A friend of thieves
by Kitty Petro
Summary: Captain Kitty Petro of interpol Paris division has a pretty neat life. She has a man who loves her, 4 wonderful children, and the best bunch of friends she could wish for. One day she is mistaken for Carmelita and finds herself kidnapped. How will she get back to her friends, and will she still be the same vixen as she was when she left? The sequel to a tale of two thieves
1. The Abduction

A friend of thieves

Chapter 1

The abduction

Kitty Petro was the happiest woman alive. At the age of 27 she had four healthy children, a boyfriend who loved her, and a pack of friends that she considered family.

Kitty smiled, watching her reflection in the mirror as she dragged her hand through her blonde hair. She was a vixen, a few inches shorter than she'd wished, with short blonde hair. Her right ear was pierced, her usual ear ring being a stud with the kanji for fox on it. Kitty sighed for the umpteenth time as her hair refused to obey either her or gravity, deciding that she'd just have to go with her hair ruffled, and probably have Yuri fuss all over her and give out not so subtle hints that she would look a lot better with longer hair.

Kitty dragged on a shirt, dragged up her denim jeans which were falling down again and fastened her Interpol captain badge on her belt. Looking herself over she came to the conclusion that she was not looking too shabby and sprinted down the stairs.

Walking into the kitchen she laughed silently as she saw Ling trying desperately to make her two daughters agree.

Amelia, Kitty's oldest was truly her mother's daughter, at least as much as a 4 year old could be. Whenever she played with the other children in the group she was always the one who came back dirtiest, and usually she was the one responsible for getting the other children dirty too. When it started to rain Amelia was usually already out the door jumping through the rain puddles.

Mulan on the other hand were nothing like Amelia. She had a little of Kitty in her, while Amelia would approach new people with a wary look, Mulan would already have hugged the same people and invited them to her next make believe tea party.

But mostly Mulan enjoyed about all the things Amelia hated. Mulan hated getting dirty, preferring to play with dolls and tea sets, while Amelia rushed around playing soccer or climbing tree's. Kitty and Ling's sons Tim and Chang watched as Amelia and Mulan argued, Ling trying his best to make the two girls calm down, not easy to do when you were raised by Tibetan monks.

"All right" Kitty said, the two girls stopping their argument to look to their mother. "What is going on?"

Amelia opened her mouth first as always. "She and Auntie Yuri are trying to wash my brain."

"You mean brainwash me" came the voice of Tim, Kitty's fox son.

Kitty blinked but couldn't open her mouth before Mulan protested.

"It's not brainwashing, all I said was that if Amelia liked my new hair clip so much she should grow her hair out and Auntie Yuri would give one to her too."

"And how do you know this?" Kitty asked.

"Auntie Yuri told me so."

Kitty's eye twitched a little. "Of course she did. Now Amelia I am sure Mulan meant no harm, apologize to your sister for being mean right now or else no desert at Aunt Yuri's place."

Amelia's eyes went wide for about 3 seconds before she turned to Mulan. "I'm sorry" she mumbled.

Kitty smiled before turning to Mulan. "And you need to tolerate that your sister is different than you are. Just because she don't like what you like it does not mean you can try to make her like what you like… that is also the lesson I am going to give to your Auntie Yuri. Apologize now."

Mulan looked sad. "Sorry" she said turning to Amelia.

"There you go. Now hug and make up."

The sisters did as their mother asked and Kitty came over and joined in on the hug.

"Now you two try to behave ok?"

"Yes mommy."

"No problem mommy."

Kitty grinned and kissed the two on their foreheads, rising to kiss Ling on the mouth.

"And how are you doing this beautiful day?"

"Better now, thank you."

"No problem. Now please excuse me, I need to call Yuri a quick moment."

Kitty walked out of the kitchen into the hallway and drew out her cell phone, quickly finding C'est Sing in her contact list calling the number. After 3 beeps she heard Maria Folovera's voice in the other end.

"C'est Sing, how may I help you?"

"Hi Maria, I need to talk to Yuri."

"Ah Kitty, good morning to you my friend. Is there something wrong?"

"Not for long" Kitty said, grinning an almost evil grin. "Just put me over to Yuri please."

"Of course Kitty."

Kitty smiled as there were 2 more beeps, before the elegant voice of Yuri Sing could be heard.

"Oui, Yuri Sing speaking."

"Hi Yuri how is your day going?"

"Ah cheri, bonjour, my day is going pretty well so far, and yours?"

"Mulan and Amelia had a fight" Kitty said plainly. "Apparently you have told Mulan that it's ok to try to bribe Amelia into getting longer hair so she could get a shiny new hair clip."

There was silence on the other end of the line so Kitty continued.

"Amelia got mad and accused you two of trying to brainwash her. Now I am going to say this only once Yuri Sing. I have accepted that Mulan is looking less like me and Ling and more like you. I have accepted that she likes dolls, dresses and tea parties and I am starting to accept that most of our conversations usually end with the phrase but Auntie Yuri said or Auntie Naomi said. But I will not accept that you are trying to take Amelia too. You have 2 daughter's of your own, you can make them into little porcelain dolls, leave my kid out of it."

"Cheri I honestly didn't mean any harm" Yuri said, finally having found her voice. "I did tell Mulan that I had a hair clip to her sister too if she wanted it, but pointed out that she might not be able to wear it as short as her hair was at the moment."

"At the moment?"

Yuri winced. "Pardones moi, that came out wrong."

Kitty sighed. "Yuri I love you, but you and Naomi need to stop trying to make every tomboy around you into fashion freaks, it is getting old."

Yuri's amused chuckle made Kitty lift an eyebrow. "Something funny Yuri?"

"Just reminiscing about your face when I pleaded for you to model for me… and the hilarity that ensued because of it."

Kitty growled. "Yuri don't you dare trying to wriggle out of this, I am mad at you."

"All right, you are right cheri, my apologies. What can I do to make it right?"

"Stop sending Amelia dresses and pink clothes for her birthday and for Christmas. Feel free to keep sending her jewelry though, she likes everything that shines."

"Like mother like daughter."

"Oh shut it" Kitty huffed, trying to not blush and failing.

This time Yuri's chuckle turned into a laugh. "All right Kitty, I get the message, loud and clear, your scolding has been taken to heart."

"Somehow I doubt that" Kitty huffed.

"I'm hurt cheri, do you question my morals?"

Kitty huffed. "You know what, I don't have time for this, I will continue this discussion with you tonight. When does dinner start?"

"19:00. See you there cheri."

And with that Yuri ended the call. Kitty took a deep breath and slowly counted to ten. At ten she smiled as she felt Ling's arms gather around her.

"Was Yuri sorry?"

"I highly doubt it" Kitty grumbled. "However I will make her sorry at the dinner tonight."

Ling smiled. "Well until then dear we have work and the kids have kindergarten."

Kitty nodded and accepted a quick kiss from Ling as he ran up the stairs to change into his work clothes. "All right kids time to go, grab your lunch boxes, your backpacks and your coats, we're leaving in five minutes."

True to her word, Kitty, Ling and the kids were out of the door five minutes later, the kids entering the family size Suzuki outside.

Kitty sighed. "I miss the bike" she mumbled, strapping the kids into their seats as Ling gave her a small smile.

Around the corner, unknown to the family Petro/Chu a shadowy figure was watching them.

The figure raised a cell phone calling a number.

"What, you did it already?"

"No, I'm just double checking, what was the address your target lived at?"

"YOU FORGOT?"

"No, of course not but."

"NO BUT'S, DO NOT CALL ME UNLESS IT IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT YOU STUPID RABBIT, NOW GO AND DO YOUR JOB."

"I suppose you don't want any witnesses."

"What the hell do you think? Now stop bothering me."

The phone on the other end buzzed into an ended call tone dial.

"Fine, not like I have a choice you stupid tyrant… and I am a hare, not a rabbit."

The hare looked at the house. It was the one labeled to the address she had been given, along with the mission.

'Kidnap the vixen living here; leave no marks and no witnesses. Still what did she want with…? Never mind. Probably best to not think it over given the nature of her current employer.'

The Hare walked out in the sunshine as the van drove away and turned a corner.

Denim pants with leather chaps covered her legs, her leather boots pointy. Around her pants was a black belt, the buckle formed as a sheriff's star. On her head sat a common brown cowboy hat. She wore a short sleeved red shirt, a cow skin vest over it.

On the left arm of the shirt a round sigil with a yellow dragon was placed. The hare's fur was white with black splotches, a wide array of freckles crossing over the bridge of her nose and cheeks. She had long brown curly hair, her eyes matching the blue sky above her perfectly.

"Right" she sighed dragging her hat away from her eyes. "Now how to do this… might be here for a few days before a chance presents itself, might as well find a comfortable rooftop."

SLY COOPER SLY COOPER

At Interpol HQ Kitty and Ling walked through the hallway filled with the usual hurried atmosphere. After Carmelita had announced to the chief that she had gone criminal, little had changed. As Carmelita had predicted the chief had gone through the usual set up, checking bank accounts, her family and friends interrogated and it had taken the chief nowhere. Kitty still remembered the incident where the chief had come rushing into her and Ling's office after Carmelita had disappeared from his sight.

*flashback*

The door opened and Chief Rob's angry face peered in.

"Did you two know?"

Kitty raised an eyebrow. "Know what? You need to be a tad more detailed there chief."

"That Sly Coopers new partner and lady friend is Carmelita?"

Kitty looked thoughtful and took a sip of her cocoa. "Let's see, did I notice that Sly got a new partner right after Carmelita quit? Did I notice that his new lady friend was a vixen? Did I add two and two and get four, yes, I do believe I did."

Chief Rob turned to Ling. "And you?"

"Kitty and I have no secrets," Ling said honestly.

"Then why Petro? Why didn't you as the officer on the case do anything? Say anything? Since she started her new career she must have been visiting the precinct at least 4 times, why is she out there and not in a jail cell?"

Kitty smiled. "Because as far as I am concerned she is still doing her job. She is putting terrible people behind bars. She and Sly is singlehandedly responsible for putting some of Interpol's most wanted in the slammer. Polarsky is dead because of them. Keiko Zuikawa behind locked doors and her father and his Yakuza connections indirectly there as well. And I don't think I need to remind you of Falke who tried to bring back the third Reich. Now you tell me Chief, why would I want to lock up someone who has done all that?"

Chief Rob growled and took a deep breath through his cigar. "You are pushing it Petro… give me one damn reason as to why I should let you two stay on the Cooper case."

"Because nobody else here has a ghost of a chance catching them… and if you take me off the case I quit the force… just as Carmelita did."

Kitty didn't say more, she didn't have too. Chief Rob's face paled and his eyes turned wide.

He huffed. "It will be an inquiry, I hope you realize that."

"Of course" Kitty said smiling. "Now if you will excuse me chief I have a lot of paperwork to go through."

Kitty pointed to her desk, more or less devoured by stacks of paper. Chief Rob huffed, but disappeared out of the door.

*flashback end*

"I still can't believe we are still on the job" Ling said shaking his head in wonder.

"I can," Kitty said grinning. "Chief Rob has enough to deal with, with Sly, Carmelita, Bentley and Murray, he doesn't need the two of us joining them on top of it… plus I think he secretly agrees with my sentiment that Carmelita is helping putting the really bad people away."

"Us joining?" Ling asked humor in his voice. "It was you who threatened to quit, not me."

"Are you saying you would stay here without me?" Kitty asked, catching the amused tone in her boyfriend's voice.

"Well we can't both be outlaws, someone have to make sure we can get money to feed the kids."

Kitty huffed. "Kids bring so much more stress than I thought… can't we just give them to Yuri and run away? Preferably by motorbike."

Ling laughed and lifted Kitty in the air, making her squeal. "No I think we are stuck with them… and you are stuck with me, now come on, we have work to do."

"Yeah yeah, just let me down will you?"

*SLY COOPER SLY COOPER*

"And I am telling you Yuri Sing I am still cross with you."

It was night and the weekly annual dinner at Yuri and Bentley's place. Kitty had just more or less repeated her tirade, but having a finger pointed accusingly in Yuri's face.

Yuri sighed. "Understood Kitty, I will refrain from trying to make Amelia feminine, now please sit down while we wait for the others to join us shall we?"

Kitty sat down in one of Yuri's lush sofa's, relaxing as Ling grabbed hold of her and held her close.

"So how is life at work Yuri?" Ling asked, as Yuri sat herself down in her own chair.

"Hectic as usual. With Naomi having her children everyone else is working overtime. Svetlana just got her figure back from her long term of child rearing and is trying to make up for lost time, Maria is refusing to take some time off even though I know she is getting little sleep because of her own children and because of it she is snapping at everyone."

Kitty shook her head. "Wow now that you mention it, it suddenly became a lot more children attached to this family of ours, strange how that happens isn't it?"

"Not really, considering most of our friends are in their late twenties, early thirties, most of us wants' a family, not really that strange."

Kitty looked up at the voice, belonging to her good friend and former partner Carmelita. Carmelita was currently playing chess against Yuri and Bentley's son Phillipe, and loosing badly.

"Check auntie," Phillipe said, moving his tower into position.

Carmelita shook her head viewing the board considering her options.

"Well only one thing to do I guess" she said, tipping her king over. "I still can't believe that I continue to lose to a six year old kid."

Phillipe smiled. "A six year old kid that jumped two grades and does his parents financial paperwork in math class when he's bored. Rematch Auntie Carmelita?"

Yuri smiled. "Now mon cher, don't distress your aunt, she has probably had a long day already."

Yuri turned to Carmelita. "So how are things for the Coopers back at le hotel Champlain? I know you came back 3 months ago but you have had a lot to do."

"Yeah" Carmelita said sighing. "We are finally getting everything settled. Sly and I found a daycare for the kids under pseudonyms, even explained why we couldn't tell others who we were, the children all took it very well… except for Silvera, but you know how she is."

"Yeah she's like a small version of you" Kitty said laughing, dodging a pillow that flew over her head from Carmelita's direction.

A healthy laughter was heard as Sly entered, the 4 Cooper children in tow.

"Hi Yuri, sorry I'm late, but I needed to take a few detours."

"Not to worry Sly, we all know how it is."

Yuri rose from her seat, giving Sly a welcoming hug before the bell rang.

"Ah that must be our favorite soviets. Now excuse me, I need to play the role of welcoming host."

"Well you play the part so well I don't see why not" Sly said winking roguishly at Kitty who laughed.

Carmelita shook her head. "Really you two grow up, you are setting a bad example for the kids" Carmelita said. Just as she finished saying this there was a great wail followed by a small voice.

"MOM, SLYVESTER STOLE CONSUELA FROM CECILIA AGAIN."

"Did not, where is the proof?"

"IT'S STICKING OUT OF THE BACK OF YOUR SHIRT STUPID."

"MOM, SILVERA CALLED ME A BAD NAME."

"WAAAAAAHHHHH."

"Yeah" Kitty said shaking her head. "We're the ones setting a bad example all right."

An hour or so later the Sing household hosted dinner for the entire Cooper clan.

Sly and Carmelita Cooper, with their 4 children Slyvester, Silvera, Cecilia and James.

Murray and Naomi Rousseau, who had married right after Sly and Carmelita had made their announcement to the world as well as their own children, Gloria, Narobi, Julian and Alexandre.

Bentley and Yuri Sing, as well as Celeste, Austin, Belinda and Phillipe, their 4 children.

Kitty Petro and Ling Chu, as well as Amelia, Tim, Mulan and Chang Petro Chu sat smiling and talking with their friends.

Svetlana Umanova and Sean Mallory sat with their triplets Karina, Patrick and Eirinn.

Next to them sat Maria Folovera and Jack Turner, as well as Irisa, Lucas, Rachel and Daniil, their own children.

Carmen and Carlos Fox eagerly talked with Carmelita as Maria and Enrico tried their best to look grown up and behave, making the other's smile.

Next to them were Trish and Derian Lambert, the two newlyweds happily cooing over their own children. Trish had gone into labor no more than 3 months before Carmelita and Sly had left for their vacation and was fussing over Connor, Robin, Nathaniel and Meghan.

Uma and Aslan Jaeger were in the same position, their big healthy kids Kovu, Gretel, Nala and Franz starting to make unhappy noises as their sat in their children's seats.

All in all it was a wonder Yuri's table could fit all fifty one people, children and babies included, but they did. And as they ate and talked everything was like it always was… and then Carmelita rose from her seat.

"I'd like a moment of everyone's time if possible."

It got quiet, with the occasional gurgles of children and babies who refused to listen to their aunt.

"We have a special occasion to celebrate today" Carmelita said happily. "Although the one responsible for it probably don't remember. On this day for exactly 7 years ago, I walked into Chief Rob's office and was introduced to my new partner."

Kitty looked up surprised. Carmelita continued talking, ignoring Kitty's shocked face.

"Had I known back then what hell that would await me being around this hurricane I would probably have run in the other direction screaming."

"HEY."

"But I am glad that I didn't, as I am sure everyone else here is… because if it wasn't for Kitty I would never have joined the Cooper gang… and had I not joined the Cooper gang I would not have asked Kitty to match make between Yuri and Bentley… and Yuri in turn would not have urged Kitty to talk with Naomi about her feelings for Murray."

Yuri spoke up. "And we would not be so intimate with the Cooper gang to relay the hint of Polarsky's moves in Paris, and Svetlana and Maria would still be in his service."

Trish spoke up next. "I met Derian one night after being frustrated over talking with Keiko Zuikawa… and she was only in my interrogation room because Kitty sent me to the Coopers for help."

"And the fraulein had a small paw to do with me and Aslan too" Uma pointed out.

Kitty looked positively red and embarrassed. Carmelita ruffled Kitty's hair and raised her voice.

"So let's all raise our glass and give three cheers for everyone's favorite rascal and scamp."

And everyone who were old enough to hold their own glass did, Kitty's already ginger fur looking more and more like a tomato as she hid her face in her hands.

The celebration lasted the rest of the night and when Kitty woke the next day she had a splitting headache that refused to go away.

"I think I might have to call in sick today" she mumbled, winching as Tim and Chang laughed at Amelia who made a funny face, while Mulan only looked like she was going to be sick.

"OK" Ling said smiling. "I'll take care of the kids; you just go and rest ok?"

Kitty smiled and kissed Ling on the mouth. "I love it when you're being considerate" she said, walking over to kiss the kids goodbye before they went to kindergarten and walked up the stairs to get some sleep.

Outside, watching from a nearby roof, a woman with long ears and white spotted fur sighed as Ling and the four children left.

"Right… it seems like you are all alone my sweet. I think it's time we got this show on the road."

Kitty had rested for no more than half an hour before the doorbell rang. Groggily she sat up and got out of bed, thumping down the stairs. She opened the door, seeing a rabbit… or was it a hare? Dressed in something out of a cowboy flick.

"Hollywood is a few miles longer west" Kitty said, making the hare chuckle.

"Funny, as if I haven't heard that one before."

"Sorry" Kitty said sighing. "I have a headache; it was a really long night yesterday and I'm not in the best of moods when someone is playing acoustics in my head. What can I help you with ma'am?"

"My car broke down and my phone is dead, I would appreciate it if I could borrow yours real quick to call for help."

"Yeah no problem" Kitty said letting the hare inn, and closed the door. "The phone is over here" Kitty said walking in front of the woman.

Just as she reached for the phone, the woman spoke up.

"I am so sorry."

And before Kitty knew what was going on, the world turned black and she fell unconscious. The hare dragged out her own cell from her jeans, calling the number 1 on her speed dial.

The voice on the other end answered gruffly. "This had better be good, do you know what time it is?"

"Montana reporting… mission complete, I am returning now." Montana spoke, each syllable dripping with contempt.

"About time" the voice said and promptly hung up.

Montana growled. "I hope you die a long horrible death and burn in hell" she growled, lifting Kitty up in her arms and carrying her out the door, closing it and leaving no traces behind.

She then walked to a non descript van and placed Kitty in the back, making sure to tie her hands together, and placing a sack over her head so she couldn't see where she was being taken.

Montana sighed as she sat down in her car and drove away, taking one last look at the Petro household in her rearview mirror before she turned a corner and disappeared.

A few hours later Kitty woke with a groan. Taking her time to put the pieces together she realized that she was tied up and blindfolded.

"Good morning… although I suppose it's almost afternoon now."

Kitty huffed, recognizing the American accent. "Kidnapping a federal officer from her home… you got some guts there woman, I hope you find that it's worth it."

"I don't… to be honest if I had a choice I would have killed myself rather than doing this."

"Then why are you doing this?" Kitty turned to the voice, not seeing but listening.

"It's a long story… but considering how far we need to go and what waits… I suppose it's only fair to warn you."

"Well this sounds pleasant" Kitty said sarcastically.

"It's not. I am a part of a criminal group who for the moment shall remain nameless. We were 4 leaders with several subordinates. Olivia, our resident brainiac and inventor, Rose, our thief and main look out, Audrey, the muscles and hijacker and me… the scout and stealth expert."

"As well as the kidnapper it seems," Kitty commented dryly.

"Not by choice. I got this job because I wouldn't leave evidence behind. Our group where doing pretty well… until one day when we were in Paris for a small job. We were taking it easy when Olivia noticed something near the seine… what we found were a woman half dead, looking like she had been in an explosion, something she probably had been too given the events earlier in the day."

"Audrey carried her back to her hideout and Olivia started trying to save her life… an arm and a leg had to be amputated, as well as most of the lower part of the woman's tail… luckily for her Olivia is a master of electronics and made suitable robot appendages, that she still uses as if she still had all of her limbs. A big part of her face was scarred and burned so bad that Olivia had to remove it with more electronics, including one eye and an ear… half of her hair had to be replaced with synthetic string."

Montana sighed. "When she woke she was in major pain, but listened in as Olivia told her what we had to do to save her life… and if she wanted she could stay for as long as she wanted. We saved her life… and were repaid by a dagger to the back."

Kitty listened in, hearing her captor's voice turn from sad to enraged.

"Olivia likes to experiment with things… and the next thing that happened is in no way her fault… at least nobody of us believes that it is, except for Olivia herself. Long ago Olivia figured that we could find a way to get past guards and the cops without having to hurt them… she tried making a chip that would stimulate the brain into ignoring what was right and what was wrong, but what she ended up making was a chip that forced the one wearing it into completely obeying the one placing it on them in the first place… a mind control chip."

"When she figured out what it did Olivia destroyed every last one, but kept the blueprints so she had something left after wasting almost a month on the darn things… what she didn't know was that our new guest had taken one of the chips for herself, having no problems abusing the powers… one day when Olivia wasn't looking, she placed the chip on Olivia's neck and gave her some new orders… don't tell anyone that anything have changed… and make 3 more of the chips."

Kitty knew where this was going. "Let me guess, you all have the chips on you right now?"

"Yes… and as I said, if I had a choice I would have refused kidnapping you, I honestly don't know what she want with you but it's probably nothing good. Our orders are undisputable I'm afraid."

"And what are your orders?"

"Do not lie to me, do not try to leave without my permission, do not use my name, if you need to address me, call me mistress etc."

Montana sighed. "One upside with the chip is that she doesn't have complete control."

"What do you mean?"

"Well it's like this, she can tell us to sit and we will sit, but we can rise up again right after we have sat down… of course she can give the order sit and stay but she rarely does, she don't see the point. As long as she can force us into doing what she wants' us to do and hinder us from leaving and spreading the word about where she is she is satisfied… at least we think she is, she has a strange way of acting."

The car stopped and Kitty smelled the salt of the sea, hearing the sounds of water lapping at the shore, as well as the occasional seagull.

"We're here I take it?"

"Almost, but the next leg can't be driven by car… sit still, I'll come around."

Kitty heard a door open and close, and heard boots on gravel, before the door on her own side opened and a hand placed itself on her elbow.

"Come on, let's get this over with."

"You know, for being a kidnapper you seem very morose."

"For a kidnapped person you sound very calm."

"I have many friends in many places… They will find me… I have no regrets."

"I wish I had your optimism… keep it close, you will need it."

Kitty frowned as she found herself in a boat, Montana turning on the small boat engine and driving off.

"Do you guys live in the middle of the sea?"

"I'm not allowed to talk about it."

Kitty sighed. "Man you must have it rough."

"You have no idea… at least not yet."

Kitty turned her ears towards Montana. "By the way… you haven't told me your name yet."

"Montana."

"The same place as where you are from I take it?"

"Born and raised… although raised might be a tad of an overstatement."

"That bad huh?"

"Well let's just say that it's hard living in the overly Christian state of Montana and being gay… there usually was three ways I got treated, there were the ones who told me that they prayed for my salvation, the ones who told me I would be going to hell for living a sin and it were the ones who tried to make me straight because they thought they could cure me. I left Montana the day I turned eighteen and have never looked back."

"Good for you" Kitty said. "And you have my sympathies."

"I'd rather you didn't give them to me… you are in enough trouble because of me from before… speaking of wich, we're here… now let's go and meet the mistress, shall we?"

Kitty huffed. "I can hardly wait."


	2. Where can I find Carmelita Montoya Fox?

Chapter 2

Where can I find Carmelita Montoya Fox?

Kitty was lead by the elbow once again, walking through some sort of metallic structure. All around her she heard the whizzing of steam and pipes, as well as both her own and Montana's footsteps, clicking metallically for each step. Momentarily they stopped, Kitty hearing Montana clicking away a code on a pad, before the sensation of an automatic door opened.

Walking through the sounds all stopped, save for the sounds of the footsteps she and Montana gave. Before Kitty really knew what was going on she was put in a chair, and Montana's voice echoed through the room they were currently in.

"Here's your bloody vixen, can I go now?"

"Did I give you permission to leave?"

Kitty frowned at the voice, female, a British accent, with a tone that made shivers run through her spine.

"No you didn't."

"Well then you can't leave."

New footsteps approached the two, and Kitty winched as the bag blindfold she had been wearing was taken off, sending sharp light into her eyes.

A low growl and a smack was heard, followed by Montana yelping.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?"

"THAT'S NOT HER YOU STUPID ASS."

"I DID MY MISSION. KIDNAPP THE VIXEN LIVING AT 342 RUE MERMONT, THAT IS HER IN THE CHAIR."

Kitty blinked, finally getting used to the light, looking around. The room she was in could easily fill a soccer stadium or two, large pillars on all sides holding up a balcony rushing around all the four walls further up. In front of her were a small platform, as well as what she could only describe as a make belief throne, probably this was where her new captor used to sit and shout out orders.

To her left stood 3 people, and given what Montana had told her she could only think that these people were the former leaders of the group.

If she were to take a guess she'd say that the Asian looking otter with glasses and a scrutinizing gaze was Olivia the brains and electronics expert, the large muscled panther Audrey the muscles, and the lithe Egyptian eagle the thief Rose.

She turned her head as her chair turned around, suddenly standing face to face with the figure that Montana had wasted little time in condemning to the lower parts of hell. It wasn't much of her face Kitty saw, as the woman was wearing a hid jab over her face, in red with golden markings.

"What is your address kid?"

"342 rue mermont."

"And how long have you lived there?"

"Seven years."

The figure crossed her arms, contemplating this information. "What is your name kid?"

Kitty raised an eyebrow.

"You know, it's customary to give your own name before demanding it of another"

Kitty raised an eyebrow at the figure, taking her time watching what she saw. The woman in front of her was wearing a short pair of shorts and a tight top.

Kitty noted that the woman's left arm from a bit over the elbow and the right leg from the knee down weren't furry, but rather hard and metalic looking.

The same could be said for one third of her tail, which swung back and forth annoyed at Kitty's refusal to cooperate.

And then there was her face, what little Kitty could see of it hidden under the red shawl. She saw a row of pointy teeth, the mouth turned up into a nasty grin.

"You are right" the figure said, in the most common city british. "My name little girl is Neyla... and now I'd like to know yours"

Kitty tried to look as neutral as she could. "My name is Kitty Petro"

"Well then Miss Petro, here is a question for you... Where can I find Carmelita Fox?"

Kitty took a deep breath, thinking to herself that this was going to hurt.

"Who?"

The fist aimed at her nose was in no way a surprise attack, but it didn't mean that the punch didn't hurt, especially since the purple tigress in front of her hit with her robotic arm.

Kitty heard a simultaneous hiss from the three women standing to the side. It probably had looked as bad as it felt.

"Do not fuck with me kid; I am having a really bad day."

"The former owner of your house, one inspector Carmelita Fox of Interpol, where can I find her?"

"How should I know?"

"Careful kid or else you will get a black eye to match your soon to be broken jaw."

Kitty looked up into the shadowy face in front of her, figuring that she might as well give the woman what she wanted.

"Carmelita left the force about 6 years ago and left me the house. She disappeared and since I haven't been keeping tabs on where she has been or who she has been with."

Neyla blinked. "Carmelita left the force? Of her own free will?"

"Yup" Kitty said nodding. "She was quite loud about it too, threw a mug at Chief Rob's face which missed by only a few inches, kicked Gaines in the crotch and left."

Neyla contemplated this, and turned to the three… no Montana had joined them so it was four women now.

"Olivia, hack into the Interpol page and see what you can find on our new guest… it seems like this day might still be salvaged."

The otter dragged out a laptop with a small "as you wish," typing away.

No more than a minute or two later she spoke up again.

"Lieutenant Kitty Petro, Interpol CID. Currently the leading officer on the Cooper case, together with her partner Ling Chu… Former partner Carmelita Fox."

"You don't say…" Neyla turned to Kitty again, who were eying her restraints.

"You know I'm not stupid enough to try to run; might you be a dear and get these off?"

Neyla stared at the vixen in front of her, before bending down to drag loose the knife placed in a holster low on her thigh and in one sweep cut the ropes holding Kitty's arms together.

"You were partners with Carmelita?"

"I was" Kitty said, rubbing her arms.

"And how did she treat you?"

"At first it got a tad rocky… apparently her former partner had gotten her arrested, nearly gotten her brainwashed and had tried to kill her."

Kitty smiled evilly up at Neyla. "You said you name was Neyla? You wouldn't by any chance be the same Neyla that is responsible for Carmelita scowling at all tigers and Brit's that she came over?"

Neyla frowned at Kitty, but her smile never faulted. "She told you about me then?"

"Yes… the entire story of the Klaww gang affair, and after she had finished she liked to up the ante."

Kitty turned her voice into a pretty good impression of Carmelita's. "Listen kid if you ever pull any stunts like that bastard of a tiger I will personally flay you alive."

Kitty shrugged. "To be honest I never believed that she would harm me, but I did my best to make her trust me."

Kitty looked up and down Neyla. "Although I'm surprised, after what I heard you should be at the bottom of the seine in little blown up owl pieces."

The growl coming from Neyla hinted Kitty to believe that she might have gone a bit too far.

Neyla reached up and removed her hid jab. Kitty blinked, seeing how much of Neyla's face that was metal. "I'll be perfectly clear here kid… I want to repay Carmelita for what she did to me… and we are in the same boat, we both where her partners and we both got scorn… so once again I will ask you Kitty Petro… where can I find Carmelita Fox?"

Kitty looked thoughtful for a moment before she spoke.

"The first day that Carmelita and I were together she tried to skip lunch, being in the middle of what she believed to be very important work… I told her that she wouldn't function without food and more or less dragged her to the cafeteria, even offering to buy her lunch if it was money that was the problem."

"Once at the cafeteria I was about to sit down with Carmelita when two tall ferrets with about a ton worth of makeup on their face approached me and told me that I would be better off eating with them, considering all my partner had done… or what they thought my partner had done."

"They told me all sorts of rumors, right in front of Carmelita's face, about how she slept her way to her job, how she was secretly with the mafia, one tale taller than the last. They finally stopped talking as I hit one of them in the nose. The cafeteria went deadly silent and I told everyone that was listening in that the next one who accused my partner for doing something without evidence was going to get it."

"The ferrets rushed off and I sat down next to Carmelita. She turned to me and muttered that her last partner would have joined the ferrets. In return I told her that her last partner must have been a pretty despicable character if she hadn't done everything she could to defend her partner. Carmelita huffed and after a few bites of food she asked me if I planned on getting her arrested. With a grin I told her that it depended on whether she intended to break the law or not, to which Carmelita gave me a smile and told me that I was impossible… something that she continued to claim for the rest of the time we were partners."

Kitty looked up at Neyla. "We are nothing alike, and I will not help you in hurting my friend and former partner. So sorry to disappoint you."

Kitty looked away from Neyla, halfway noticing that the four women at her right were inching backwards away from the two, some giving her a sympathetic look, making Kitty wonder how bad this was going to hurt.

But to her surprise Neyla didn't raise her fist to strike. She just looked at Kitty shocked.

"You would actually go out of your way to aid her, knowing that I would hurt you?"

"That's what good partners do… we stand up for each other."

Neyla's frown turned into a hard scowl. "Well now, we'll see about that. Olivia."

"Hai?"

'Ah Japanese' Kitty thought, as the otter turned to Neyla at being addressed.

"Go and get our new guest a chip, let's see if it will make her a tad more compelled to aid us."

"Don't you mean yourself?" Kitty asked. "For as far as I can see, no one here seems very keen on helping you."

This time Neyla did hit her, and turned to Olivia again. "Well get moving."

The otter more or less sprinted out the door, away from the wrath of the tigress that looked ready to spew fire any minute now. Kitty wondered silently to herself if she could do that, or if that part of her body was still flesh. She didn't say anything out loud of course, a small part of her firmly believed that Neyla was crazy enough to make the poor otter that had just run out the door actually fix a flame breathing apparatus in her; she seemed the type to do so.

The silence that had surrounded the room halted as footsteps where heard and Olivia came running back. Bending gently to catch her breath she handed over a small metallic computer chip, about the size of a penny and turned to join her friends.

On the way back she stopped to briefly look Kitty in the eye, and muttered a low "gomenasai," to which Kitty smiled at her.

"Ii desu yo."

Olivia blinked but didn't stay to ask how Kitty knew Japanese, walking over to her friends, Montana patting her shoulder in sympathy. Neyla scowled at Olivia's backside.

"Sure took her long enough. Do you know what this is Petro?"

Kitty didn't answer. Montana's voice lingered in the back of her head, talking about a chip that forced the group to follow Neyla's every order… if Neyla put that on her and asked for Carmelita's location… 'think Kitty, think.'

There had to be a loophole here. Kitty barely paid attention as Neyla described in painful detail what the chip in her hand did and what she was going to make Kitty do.

'Wait a minute… she will probably ask me not to lie… not lying isn't the same as telling the truth, yes this could work…' she hoped.

Neyla looked Kitty straight in the eye, the grin on her face promising pain and death. "Get up from that chair Petro… and try to not do anything foolish."

Slowly and steadily Kitty rose from her chair, giving Neyla a look that looked neither sad nor angry… only bored.

She stood still as Neyla walked to her back. She looked over to the other four again, seeing them all look like they attended a funeral… in a few moments she would be like them. Trapped like a bug, forced to follow Neyla's orders… but Kitty wasn't going to fall that easily, she was going to make Neyla deserve to get into her head, and she knew just how to make it work… she hoped. She was brought out of her thinking as she felt a cold mark on her neck. She heard a small click and twitched as for a small second she felt electricity round all over her body.

Groaning she reached back to touch her neck, but was stopped as Neyla grabbed her arm.

"Ah ah ah, no touchie."

She was smiling again Kitty noted with a frown.

"Now then basic rules to live by before we start with the important things. You will not touch your chip, you will not ask any of the others to take it off for you, you will not take one of the other's chips off of them. Are these rules understood?"

"Yes" Kitty answered, so fast that she had a feeling that it was the chip that answered, not her.

"All right. Next, you are not allowed to lie to me or to keep secret's from me. You are not to leave the hideout without permission and you are not allowed to make contact with anyone outside the hideout without my say so. You will address me as mistress and you are not to tell any bystanders my real name, anything I say goes, is this clear?"

"Yes mistress."

'OK definitively the chip that time.'

"Well then, tell me this Kitty Petro… where can I find Carmelita Fox?"

Kitty grinned, and fought against blurting out what Neyla wanted her to say, and replied with what she knew to not be a lie.

"I'm sorry Mistress, I don't know a Carmelita Fox."

The look on Neyla's face was priceless, so priceless that the four others could not control themselves and snickered. They stopped the moment Neyla glared at all of them, and turned to Kitty.

"Don't you dare lie to me kid."

"I'm not" Kitty said honestly. "I can't lie with this thing in work can I? I am telling you honest to god that I do not at the current time know a Carmelita Fox."

Neyla looked furious now, and Kitty wondered if she was getting a black eye in the near future.

"Are you fooling the chip in any way or form?"

"If I was doing that it would be a secret and I would be obligated to tell you" Kitty reasoned.

"GOD DAMN IT PETRO WHAT AREN'T YOU TELLING ME?"

"The sky is blue, a heart has enough muscle power to squirt blood 30 meters into the air, a pig's orgasm lasts for half an hour, the elephant is the only animal incapable of jumping with all 4 legs in the air at once, it takes 24 drawings to animate 1 second worth of film"

"AAAAAARRRRGHHHH."

There was a definitive chuckle from the other women now, although they tried their best to hide it. Neyla looked furious… and Kitty had a feeling that she was going to need first aid in a moment.

"Last chance kid… where is she?"

"Who?"

"Carmelita Fox?"

"I don't know a Carmelita Fox."

The punch sent Kitty flying, straight into the muscular arms of the panther Audrey.

"Worth it," Kitty mumbled as she got to her feet, nursing her eye. "Yup, that's going to turn black" she muttered groaning.

Neyla growled, sounding more and more feral. "If you don't want to do this the easy way, then we can do it the hard way."

She looked at Kitty, her voice more or less a growl. "Take a good look around you Petro; you will be staying here for as long as it takes. And as you are now living with us you should do your part to help us…" Neyla turned to the other four. "Congratulations everyone, we have a new apprentice. Teach her all you know, and teach her as fast as you can."

She turned to Kitty again. "You are to follow whatever order these four women give you. If they say jump you jump, got it?"

"Yes mistress," Kitty said.

"Then get started." Neyla turned around. As she was about to walk through a door she turned. "And I want a piece of her to teach personally, keep that in mind when you divide the workload."

And with that she walked through the door which closed with a bang behind her. As the door closed Montana was the first who broke the silence by laughing so hard that tears rolled down her face. The other soon followed, Kitty smiling at them.

"Did you see her face?" Rose asked, raising a feather to dab at her eyes to not ruin her makeup. "That was priceless; I'll have that face stuck on my mind for the rest of my life."

Audrey hit Kitty friendly on the back, with enough force to knock her to her knees. "You are all right Amiga she said, a deep South American accent in her deep voice."

Olivia were the first one who calmed down, taking off her glasses to rinse them on her deep red and golden trimmed kimono. "All right, all right… we've had our fun, now let's stop before she comes back and make our life even more miserable than it already is."

She turned to Kitty. "Once again… I am sorry for this… it's my invention that's stuck on your neck and it will bring you nothing but trouble."

"It's not your fault" Kitty said simply. "It's Ne-n-ne… dang it I forgot, no using her name."

"No but on the other hand she hasn't refused nicknames as long as she can't hear them" Rose said crossing her arms. "The most popular ones at the moment is metal face, scrap heap dropout and bolts for brains."

"And Kitty is right" Montana said turning to Olivia. "Nobody here blames you, now stop sulking."

"Hai, hai, I know. Now then 5 teachers, one student, 7 days in the week. Anyone have any suggestions?"

"One day each in the week, alternating the Saturdays and giving her the Sundays off" Montana said at once. "It's the best way, and we all need a lot of time teaching her everything."

"Hey I'm right here" Kitty grumbled. "Shouldn't I have a say in this."

"No not really" Rose said. "If I were you kid, I'd start worrying about what we are going to do to you, because trust me, it will not be easy or painless. And that is probably what metal face wants. She wants you to crack and give up."

Kitty huffed. "She can try… and I have a name, feel free to use it."

"You are taking this well" Audrey said, crossing her arms curious. "For being a cop with Interpol the fact that you are being forced to learn how to be a thief don't seem too bad to you."

"Well it's not like I have a choice in the matter, why should I worry over something I can't control?"

The others looked at each other, probably having a private moment that Kitty knew she had no business being part of.

Rose turned to Olivia. "Are you going to focus on the physical or the mental work first?"

"I was thinking the physical, it takes the longest time and we might as well get started at once."

"Then I'll take her the day after you, I have a feeling that she might develop faster with the idea's fresh in mind."

Olivia nodded, Kitty wondering what was going on, but knew better than to bother asking. "I can take her on Mondays" Montana said. "My work doesn't use a lot of energy and if she is as tired on Mondays as I think she will be after the last week she might as well get a soft start to the week."

Olivia nodded and turned to Audrey. "Do you mind terrible if you took Tuesdays?"

"It don't matter to me" Audrey said honestly.

Olivia nodded. "I think it's best if we got her to train with bolts for brains on Wednesday… we all know that she is the one who is going to do the hardest work and we might as well let her get it in between the rest of us."

"How is that logical?" Kitty asked confused. "If she is going to be worst, why not give her the job early or late in the week?"

"Because when she is finished training you… when she is finished taking your every weakness and sending it at you and finished at beating you to a pulp, you will want to have something to look forward too. Saturdays rotate so if you go to her on a Friday, one in five times you will have to go back to her the next day, and to be honest, giving you to her on a Monday when you are freshly rested you are going to be a wreck for the rest of the week and mess with the rest of our training."

Olivia didn't sound angry. At least not at Kitty. But as she spoke, stating the facts, a slow feeling of dread washed down Kitty's back as she wondered what her new chief had done to the four women in front of her.

Olivia sighed and rubbed her temples, adjusting her glasses a bit. "Right, I'll take her Thursdays and Rose that leaves Fridays for you, is everyone happy with this?"

Everyone nodded except Kitty, but she had a feeling that her opinions wouldn't matter anyways.

"All right, Montana you take the first Saturday, Audrey you the next, then scrap metal, then me and then Rose and back to Montana. Now which day is it?"

"Tuesday" Kitty said. "At least it was when Montana knocked on my door."

"Right" Audrey said. "That means you are mine for the day, come on Kitty, we have a lot to do."

"I'll go and tell the big shot the schedule, try to not kill her Audrey, she don't look like the one who visit the gym often."

Kitty pondered if she should comment on Rose's offhand comment, but decided against it… it was true after all.

Kitty followed the large panther through a door to walk down a hallway. Looking around Kitty had a strange feeling that they were inside a submarine at the size of a cruise ship.

"So… where is this place anyways?"

"In the middle of the bloody ocean."

"Yeah I kind of figured that after Montana took me on a boat ride to get here."

Audrey chuckled. "It's not much more I can tell you really. We are on an abandoned oil platform that nobody knows about in the middle of the Atlantic. At least I think it's the Atlantic, geography was never really my thing."

Audrey turned to look at Kitty. "I never really introduced myself did I? Audrey Fertago, The female fatale dragon's muscle and car hijacker. Born and grew up in the ghetto's of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil."

If not for the order to follow Kitty would have stopped in shock.

"Did you just say the female fatale dragons?" Kitty had wondered silently since she arrived at the red and yellow dragon placed on the clothes of the four women currently under Neyla's control and have wondered why it looked so familiar. As Audrey spoke the name it suddenly became very clear.

The dragon's had a reputation back a decade or so of targeting various rich politicians and making their life pure hell. One day without warning some random rich person would wake up, his bank accounts empty, his house robbed of anything of value, and his or her face on the front page of the newspaper, telling the entire world about his dirty laundry. All that remained (if you believed the victims) were a red card with a yellow dragon, signed by the Female fatale dragons and the victim of the crime suddenly got a visit from the police who were there to inquire about some of the not so legal business that said victim had been part of. Then suddenly the dragon's had disappeared, leaving no trace of what had happened or why they had stopped.

Although now that Kitty thought about it, the reason looked pretty clear from her point of view.

Audrey smiled a toothy grin. "I suppose you have heard of us?"

"That's an understatement… when it comes to exposing dirty crooks you were almost as known as the cooper gang, although for some reason we never saw a connection between the people you went after."

"The connection's were personal" Audrey said. "There was a guy in Egypt who had raped a woman and the next day had her arrested for having sex outside marriage… she was sentenced to death by stoning. A guy in China sold his five year old daughter as a sex slave to all of his friends. There was a wife abuser in Canada, a man in the states who kidnapped openly gay people and tortured them in his cellar, calling it exorcism of the devil; nobody survived him… except for one person. In my own city Rio, there was a cop who went around in the ghetto and killed whole families, calling it a blessing because they had no place in this world."

Audrey opened a door, beckoning for Kitty to enter. Kitty did, entering a small gym, with weights, treadmills and various training apparatus.

"Now we aren't here to talk about the past" Audrey said, closing the door behind her. "But before we start I need to know what I have to work with, so answer me truthfully, on a scale of one to ten how fit do you think you are."

"I'd say a 4" Kitty said truthfully. "In my job I can't be a couch potato, but I have never trained more than I had too."

"Right… how long can you run without stopping or getting stitches in the side?"

"Five minutes give or take."

"How much weight can you lift?"

"Five kilo's, don't give me that look I know I'm weak, no need to make this personal."

Audrey sighed. "Right, we might as well get started, we have a long way to go."

Audrey looked at Kitty, dressed in a pair of loose pants and a large shirt and slippers. "But first you need some real clothes."

Audrey walked over to a locked and opened it. Kitty blinked at the amount of training clothes, training bras, shoes, socks and other necessities in the closet.

Looking Kitty over Audrey pulled out some clothes. "Here, these looks like they will fit you get changed."

Kitty quickly did, her chip not even considering disobeying the order even if there was another person in the room. Not that Kitty was shy about her body. The clothes fit her perfectly, although clothes were a pretty loose term. Tights and a top that stopped over her midriff, as well as a pair of socks tucked into a pair of standard Nike running shoes.

Audrey gave her a water bottle, having filled it with water as Kitty changed.

"We will warm up with some running. Get on the treadmill, set the speed to 15, incline to 5. Every 5 minutes you add one to the speed and one to the incline, do not stop running until I say so or until you pass out."

Kitty swallowed hard. She had a feeling that this was not going to end well, and she gave a soft silent prayer, even though she wasn't religious, and hoped that her friends would come and get her as soon as possible.

And with that Kitty stepped onto the treadmill and closed her eyes, trusting the chip to force her body into following the order she had just received.


	3. Training in earnest

Chapter 3

Training in earnest

Kitty wondered how it was possible that she was still standing. It had been almost forty five minutes and yet she was still on the treadmill. Her body ached, every breath felt like a knife to her lungs, but still she stood. She turned to look at Audrey, who regarded her while absentmindedly lifting a weight in her right hand, the weight looking like it weighed about the same as Kitty did.

"All right you can stop" Audrey said Kitty jumping off the treadmill before the chip could even comprehend the order.

Kitty fell to her knee's and gasped for air like a fish out of water. She tried to rise up, but her legs shook too much, so she gave up and fell to her side.

A shadow marked the entry of Audrey who looked at her.

"Wa 'gasp' wa 'gasp' ter 'gasp'."

"Water?"

Kitty's answer was another gasp. Audrey turned and got Kitty's water bottle from the treadmill, seeing that it was almost empty already.

Walking over to Kitty she squatted down and held out the bottle, Kitty taking it with a trembling hand.

"You are doing better than I thought" Audrey said surprised. "I thought for sure you'd faint after half an hour."

Kitty scowled at her from her position on the floor, still trying to catch her breath. "Your concern is remarkable and touching."

Audrey laughed a hearty laugh, so familiar that Kitty wondered in her exhausted haze if this was all a prank and that it was Uma that stood over her.

"Come now, we still have a lot of work to do. Next is bench press, we need to do something about those sticks you call arm's."

For the next hours Kitty could barely comprehend what was going on. A very small part of her thanked the chip for having to follow the orders she was given because if she had been forced to do this while thinking of doing it her brain would explode. She was so tired, she was sure that she passed out a second or so every now and again, but still her body obeyed the commands she was given. It felt like a month had gone by when Audrey finally stopped her.

"What?" Kitty asked amused and sarcastically. "We finished already?"

"You need a shower" Audrey said simply, helping Kitty sitting straight. "And it's dinner in an hour. And we are not allowed to miss dinner; it's her favorite moment to make herself be more important than she is, rubbing our hopelessness in our faces. Now come on, you reek of sweat."

"No shit" Kitty said, having noticed that fact 3 hours earlier. "I would never have noticed without you pointing it out, thank you very much."

Audrey's smile faltered for a moment. "Be careful about who you use that sass on. I am not doing this because I want to."

"Yeah I know… my apologies."

"Not your fault. I suppose I can understand your plight. Being taken away from your family and friends for life must be hard."

"It's not for life" Kitty said. "I know my friends, they will come for me."

"Sorry to burst your bubble" Audrey said. "But we are outside of the French police borders, this is international waters and private property, your friends won't be allowed to enter to look for you."

"Who said that my friends cared about the law?"

Audrey looked curiously at her and Kitty saw that she wanted to ask what she meant but didn't. Knowing that if Kitty did give her important information, she was obligated by the chip to tell Neyla, and they both knew that nobody wanted that.

"All right, here is the showers, don't take too long, we need to be in the dining hall in half an hour."

"Yes ma'am" Kitty said, entering the showers, closing the door behind her.

No more than fifteen minutes later Kitty and Audrey stepped into a room that once upon a time (probably when the oil platform was still operational) had to be a cafeteria.

Kitty was quick to notice a piano in the nearby corner and Montana resting with her feet on the table, her chair leaning backwards on its hind legs, resting her eyes under her hat. Olivia came walking out of a door, carrying a stack of bowls.

"Montana for kami's sake what have I said about having your feet on the table?"

Montana looked up drowsily and put her feet down, stretching her body. "Sorry Olivia, I have had a long couple of days."

Olivia placed the bowls on the table with a flourish.

"Hey we all know how that is… and no hats while sitting by the table have some manners Montana this isn't the outback."

Audrey laughed as she and Kitty walking up to the two women. "You two should marry each other, you already sound like a married couple."

Montana gave Audrey the middle finger, all the while grinning to show that she was joking around.

"All right everyone let's settle down, no arguing at the table" Olivia said. "Now Audrey how did our new friend do?"

"Better than I'd thought" Audrey said.

Kitty sighed. "Is this thing of you guys ignoring me while I am in the room going to be a common thing? Because it is starting to be annoying."

"So sorry, Kitty how was your first session training?"

"I am amazed that I haven't died already."

Audrey laughed her Uma like laugh again, slapping Kitty on the shoulder, making Kitty's body rattle.

"She's not bad, for an out of shape weakling as she is."

"Oh shut it."

Montana laughed. "Hey why don't you entertain yourself for a while Kitty, it's Olivia's turn to make dinner, so it shouldn't be too long before it's finished, but it usually becomes a tad silent while the last preparations are finished."

"Speaking of which" Olivia said turning to the large panther beside her. "I could use some help bringing out the pot."

"Of course, lead the way."

Kitty sat down looking around. "Nice place… a tad run down and metallic maybe, but it's a nice place. Nice acoustics too."

Montana looked at her. "Yeah I think so too… it's been way to long since last I played on my guitar, but orders take priorities I suppose."

"Good thing I haven't had any orders to stop me yet then" Kitty said.

She grinned, thinking through the list of songs she knew by heart and wich would fit in the situation.

"I suppose that metal face don't own a trace of self irony."

"None whatsoever."

"Then I should sing before she arrives I suppose" Kitty said walking over to the piano to find the tone she needed to start singing.

Audrey and Olivia come out, Audrey placing a bowl on the middle of the table. Olivia frowned and looked to Montana.

"What's she planning?"

"Shh. I think this will be interesting" Montana said, as Kitty opened her mouth

I ache for the touch of your lips, dear,

But much more for the touch of your whips, dear.

You can raise welts

Like nobody else,

As we dance to the masochism tango.

Montana, Audrey and Olivia gaped as Kitty sung, Montana getting a small feeling that she understood why Kitty were singing this now before Neyla herself entered the room

Say our love be a flame, not an ember,

Say it's me that you want to dismember.

Blacken my eye,

Set fire to my tie,

As we dance to the masochism tango.

Kitty rose up straighter, holding a military pose, saluting the empty air.

At your command

Before you here I stand,

My heart is in my hand. ecch!

It's here that I must be.

Audrey couldn't hold it anymore and started laughing, Olivia and Montana yielding themselves, the three holding each other up or leaning on something to not fall to the floor laughing.

My heart entreats,

Just hear those savage beats,

And go put on your cleats

And come and trample me.

Your heart is hard as stone or mahogany,

That's why I'm in such exquisite agony.

My soul is on fire,

It's aflame with desire,

Which is why I perspire

When we tango.

As everyone enjoyed Kitty's performance, nobody noticed as the door opened and Rose and Neyla entered, Rose looking hurried and tired.

You caught my nose

In your left castanet, love,

I can feel the pain yet, love,

Every time I hear drums.

And I envy the rose

That you held in your teeth, love,

With the thorns underneath, love,

Sticking into your gums.

Your eyes cast a spell that bewitches.

The last time I needed twenty stitches

To sew up the gash

That you made with your lash,

As we danced to the masochism tango.

Neyla merely raised an eyebrow at the sight in front of her, Kitty singing, her subordinates laughing and the total disregard of her entering the room. Gently she pondered whether to hurt all of them or just Kitty, coming to a decision as Kitty continued to sing.

Bash in my brain,

And make me scream with pain,

Then kick me once again,

And say we'll never part.

I know too well

I'm underneath your spell,

So, darling, if you smell

Something burning, it's my heart.

Excuse me!

Rose tried so hard not to laugh. But it was very hard not to be entranced by the song and the intended meaning behind the lyrics that she was close to breaking down in tears. It didn't make the matters better seeing Neyla next to her, the tigress eye twitching in annoyance.

Take your cigarette from its holder,

And burn your initials in my shoulder.

Fracture my spine,

And swear that you're mine,

As we dance to the masochism tango.

Kitty finished singing, Neyla slowly clapping. That stopped the laughter she noticed dryly, her eyes never leaving Kitty's for a second.

"Well now Petro, I thought you used to be a cop, not an entertainer… such an interesting song too, I didn't know you felt that way."

She turned to Rose and the other three. "SIT DOWN."

They did, looking everywhere except at Neyla, who walked up to Kitty, the woman not backing down from Neyla's face. Neyla stopped a few inches away from Kitty.

"You are to stand still. Do not move a muscle unless told otherwise is that clear?"

"Yes mistress."

And Kitty stood still, and before she knew what had happened she heard a snap and felt pain in her cheek following by the feeling of blood falling down her cheek. She merely blinked, her body wanting to scream in pain, her chip refusing to let her.

Looking straight at Neyla she saw the woman coil the whip she had just used with expert accuracy on her face. "That will give you five stitches, not the twenty you asked for, but don't worry, you will get the remaining fifteen when you and I will start our little session in the morning. Now sit down, and if I hear one more disrespecting tune coming from your mouth I will break your jaw is that clear?"

"Yes mistress" Kitty said walking over to sit down next to Rose, who passed her a handkerchief when Neyla's face was turned, which Kitty placed over her bleeding cheek at once.

Turning to Rose she smiled and silently mouthed 'thank you, it was worth it' to which Rose shook her head in amusement.

Neyla sat down at the head of the table, taking off the lid of the pot which steamed and released a sweet aroma of noodles and meat.

"Well at least it's not sushi" Neyla muttered; helping herself to a bowl of what Kitty knew to be ramen.

Looking down in front of her she turned to Olivia. "You have any extra chopsticks?"

Olivia looked at her surprised. "You know how to use chopsticks?"

"That I do. And I don't eat Asian food with a fork, that's just wrong."

Olivia smiled. "The chopsticks are in the topmost drawer in the kitchen next to the sink."

Kitty rose and rushed over to the kitchen, quickly finding a pair of chopsticks and returning to the table again. Olivia handed her a bowl of ramen, to which Kitty smiled.

"Arigato."

Seeing that she was the last one to get a bowl and that Neyla had already started eating, Kitty clapped her hands together in front of her. "Idatakimasu" she called, and started eating.

Olivia watched her as Kitty started eating, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Where did you learn to speak Japanese?"

"I'm an otaku" Kitty replied, shrugging her shoulders. "You pick up some Japanese after watching anime week after week. Now I don't really speak Japanese, but I know a few phrases."

Olivia opened her mouth, probably to continue down the path of talking anime, as Neyla pointedly cleared her throat, making all discussion end.

"I sent Rose out on a small mission as you started your training Petro… I must congratulate you; you made the evening news as the top story."

Kitty didn't reply. She knew better than to take the bait dangling in front of her.

"There is a search party establishing of course, not that it's going to lead them anywhere."

Kitty put down her bowl, taking a sip from a glass of water.

"Your boyfriend looked pretty upset… and I suppose the sniveling brats at his side were quite the pathetic sight too."

Kitty ignored her and took up the bowl and started drinking up the last of the soup in it. Neyla looked at her.

"Where is Carmelita Fox?"

"I don't know a Carmelita Fox."

Neyla took a deep breath, alerting everyone present that her patience was growing thinner and thinner for each word.

"Very well then… Audrey you are the one responsible for her today?"

"Yes I am."

"Very well. Train her further, the room in the second wing is empty, drop her off there when you are finished. And Petro you are to come to the main outlook room on the top floor tomorrow at 8, is that clear?"

"Yes mistress."

Neyla rose and walked out of the door, leaving only the five mind controlled women behind. Kitty laid down her chopsticks, clapping her hands together again.

"Gochisosama deshita" she said, stretching.

Olivia smiled again. "Domo."

"Right" Kitty said rising. "Shall we get this over with Audrey?"

"Yeah we might as well" Audrey said rising herself.

"I'll go and make your room presentable" Montana said. "I haven't any other duties before my rounds at 9."

"Thank you" Kitty said smiling. "I appreciate it."

Montana nodded, taking up her hat once again, lifting it up to her head.

And once again Kitty followed Audrey, trying hard to not think of what Ling and the others were doing at that very moment.


	4. A new power

Chapter 4

A new power

The next day Kitty felt her body rise and force her into waking up earlier than she had ever been woken up. There was no alarm bell, only the chip listening to the order of being present at 8. As she shook the sleep out of her eyes Kitty looked around her new room.

A small thing just big enough to hold a bed, a cupboard and a nightstand. Walking out she found the local bathroom and got started with brushing her teeth and washing her face, all the essentials gathered by Rose the previous day when she was out doing recon for Neyla. Dragging a hand through her hair Kitty allowed herself a yawn and walked out the door.

She didn't know where to go, but apparently the chip did, leading her through corridors, up a flight of stairs and finally through a door.

Neyla were there already, focusing on a TV blasting out the local news. Kitty tried to not shout in surprise as she saw Yuri on the TV, proclaiming that she was offering the Interpol and local PD search parties as much funds as they needed in order to find inspector Kitty Petro, who had at several occasions helped out her and her employers.

"You got influential friends Petro" Neyla said, turning off the TV. "But again I'm going to point out that it's a futile attempt."

Neyla pointed out the windows. "Paris is about 350 nautical miles that way if not more. Nobody will find you out here."

"We'll see" Kitty said smiling. "Now what is it you are going to teach me mistress? Poison making? The finer arts of backstabbing?"

"Close" Neyla said grinning. "There were many things Carmelita didn't know about me because I liked to keep my cards close to my chest." Neyla walked over to a large cupboard, opening it with a flourish, Kitty gaping at the contents.

"One of the things I never told her is that my specialties lie in the sword arts… or weapon handling in general."

And goodness knew there were a lot of weapons in that cupboard Kitty thought for herself. Sharp pointy long swords, curvy arakhs and scimitars, morning stars, war axes and small war axes, shuriken, daggers and kunai's, as well as tonfas, a bo staff and various other weapons Kitty couldn't mention the names off but looked impressive.

"My personal favorite is the whip" Neyla said, laying a fond hand on the whip at her side. "It has the upside of causing terrible pain, but as long as you know where to hit and how hard to hit, you will never kill your opponent until you get the answers you want from them."

Kitty didn't say anything to this obvious hint, just gave Neyla a neutral look. Neyla smiled at her. "Pick a weapon Kitty… and in a few months or so when I think you have mastered it we will continue on to a new weapon."

Kitty walked over to the cupboard, looking over the different weapons. Her eyes landed on a strange mix between a staff and a pair of swords.

"What's that?"

"A thief blade" Neyla said, pulling it out. The staff was long, the middle being bare for the person who wielded it. On each side of the staff was a blade, slightly curved.

"You can use it as a staff" Neyla said, twirling the staff around in her hand. "Or you could do this."

She laid both her hands in the middle, twisting the staff so that it loosened up, and suddenly she held two twin blades in her hands. She closed it back to a staff, handing it to Kitty.

"I suppose we will start with this?"

"Why not" Kitty said shrugging, twisting the handle, preferring to have a sword in each hand. Neyla turned to the cupboard, removing her whip, placing it on a hook in the cupboard, taking out a long sword.

"Line up Petro… and try to not die."

Kitty wanted to ask if Neyla was joking… but she had a feeling that the tigress standing in front of her wielding a sword that looked strong and pointy enough to size through iron was being brutally honest.

"Right" Kitty muttered, looking at her own swords, trying to find a good grip. Then, before she could even react Neyla lunged.

Once again Kitty thanked the chips auto function for being constantly watching, because as fast as she could she raised her left hand to block with one of her swords. Neyla parried again, being relentless. Suddenly she held out her leg to make Kitty stumble and as Kitty tried to regain her balance she felt a sharp twinge in her arm, making her yelp.

She looked at the nice new gash on her left arm, then up to Neyla who were wiping the blood on her sword on the bottom of her shoes.

"Lesson one, always be vary and don't bother playing fair. Chances are that your opponent isn't going to be nice to you just because you are nice to him. Also that's an additional ten stitches you are going to need, only five to go and the rest I will gladly give free of charge."

Kitty rose, thinking of the pain she went through yesterday after training, when Olivia came to her room with a sewing kit, proclaiming that Neyla had been right about her needing stitches on her cheek from the whip. Kitty had a feeling that the blood dripping from her arm weren't going to be looked at before lunch if not later. At least not unless she gave Neyla what she wanted, something she were not going to do.

As Neyla walked to stand in front of her, Kitty decided to take Neyla's lesson to heart and lunged before Neyla could react. At least that's what Kitty thought. Neyla rose what Kitty saw was an unguarded arm, taking the blow… but instead of the sound of metal meeting flesh and the appearance of blood, all that happened was a large clunk and Kitty's attack stopped. Kitty wondered what had happened, before she realized.

"Of course… your arm is metal now."

"How astute of you to remember" Neyla said, not looking amused. "Now I didn't remember telling you to attack."

"I thought I shouldn't play by the rules" Kitty quipped.

Neyla actually chuckled at this, and then she hit Kitty in the stomach with the butt of her blade, making Kitty fall to the ground.

"Lesson two; don't jump into a battle without knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent."

"You lunged at me first" Kitty wheezed, trying to breathe properly again.

"Your weakness is that you are a cop and therefore play by the rules. Also you have next to no experience with blades, as Interpol primarily focuses on shock pistols. Your strength lies in being able to think on your feet but with no experience this strength isn't enough to make you a threat."

Kitty got to her feet, scowling at Neyla's quick but accurate description… well at least for the most part. The thing about playing by the rules couldn't be further from the truth, although Kitty wasn't going to point that out to Neyla. Neyla looked at her as she made her stance, shaking her head.

Then she lunged again, and Kitty raised her sword to parry. As she did, Neyla twisted her blade, making Kitty's blade fall from her hand, Neyla taking the opening to give her yet another cut, this one on her shoulder.

"You hold your sword to lose, you need a firmer grip or else… well you saw what happened for yourself didn't you?"

"Yes mistress." Neyla opened her mouth again, but stopped as there was a noise outside the door. The door opened and Montana came running in.

"Mistress 'pant' channel 5 'pant' important news."

Neyla walked over to get the remote, turning on the television on channel 5 wich were in the middle of an emergency news broadcast.

"The police are working hard in their search to find Lieutenant Kitty Petro of Interpol, who mysteriously disappeared from her home yesterday morning. The search party is proud to say that they have found their first lead in the case. Lieutenant Petro's police badge was found lying on the ground nearby the shoreline. Police investigators find it probable that the kidnappers have taken her by sea and are now talking with the coast guard to help in future searches."

Neyla turned off the TV, Kitty seeing that it took her a few seconds to calm down before the tigress turned to Montana and herself.

"Petro did you by any chance leave your badge on the shore as a clue for the cops to find?"

"Yes… yes I did" Kitty said smiling, sitting up, nursing her wound.

Neyla nodded, turning to Montana. "Tell Olivia that I'd like a word with her in private when she is finished with her rounds tonight."

"Yes mistress" Montana said, turning and closing the door behind her, rushing off.

Neyla sighed and looked at Kitty. "Now then… where were we?"

A few hours later Kitty winched as Olivia started stitching her up again.

"I don't think I like metal face's teaching methods" Kitty mused, wincing as the needle penetrated her skin once again.

Olivia shook her head. "Mattaku would you stop trying to get yourself killed? You are with me in the morning and it will be hard to train you with all these wounds."

"I thought you were the brain of this little group" Kitty said. "How is my body being torn apart a problem as long as I can use my head."

"While I work as the brains of the operations here, I am also a martial artist… when scrap head said teach her everything we intend to teach you everything."

Kitty whimpered as Olivia finished the last stitch. "Heh, I get it, you need me to be able to move so you can teach me how to kick and hit things properly."

"You make it sound simple" Olivia said with a frown. "But it's anything but simple, and something tells me that if you suffered as much in Audrey's care as I think you did you are going to be in for it big time."

"You worry too much" Kitty said.

"No you worry too little" Olivia said, Kitty just smiling.

The next day Kitty appeared in Olivia's study, Olivia sitting near a desk with goggles on, welding away on some small piece of robotic equipment. As Kitty closed the door she looked up.

"Ah morning Petro, I'll be right there."

Olivia moved her small welding tool over several parts of metal before letting the flame die down. Kitty listened in on a laptop which played songs in the background, recognizing the current song.

"You listen to vocaloid Olivia?"

"I do… but for now I suppose you should focus on something else."

Olivia walked over to the laptop, setting the player to pause.

"Now then, let us start from the top. I am Olivia Rikkusari originally from Osaka Japan. I function as the robotic specialist, a martial artist and as the proverbial brains in the Female fatale dragons."

Kitty smiled and bowed in the traditional Japanese way. "A pleasure to meet you Rikkusari sencho."

Olivia blinked a few times, and then tried to not look touched. "Stop fooling around; we have a lot to do, also you are using that wrong. Sencho is like senpai for sports."

"But isn't martial arts considered a sport? Besides I have a feeling that you won't let me call you sensei, so sencho it is."

Olivia sighed and opened a door. "Just get in here Petro."

"Hai." Kitty entered through the door, finding herself in a large oriental garden with bamboo, a small river and a gazebo. Olivia led the way to an area in the back which was dedicated to martial arts training.

"This is a nice place" Kitty said.

"I use it to meditate… at least when I have the time to do so. Now then let's start warming up… how nimble are you?"

Kitty's answer was a nervous giggle.

"That bad huh? All right, then I apologize, I will probably make your body feel like it's burning today. And take it from someone who knows what she's talking about. If you don't cry you are doing it wrong."

"Well this sounds promising" Kitty huffed.

"That's the way of life I'm afraid. Now sit down next to that tree."

Kitty did, leaning her back to the base of the tree. Olivia walked over to a chest and pulled out several bundles of rope.

"Sit still" she said, tying some rope around Kitty and the tree, making her unable to move.

She then tied two more pieces of rope to each of Kitty's legs. Signing she disappeared out of Kitty's field of vision.

"Hey Petro, spread your legs as far apart from each other as you can."

Kitty did, wondering where this was going, as she felt Olivia doing something with the rope tied to her legs. Then after a little while she called out again.

"Hey Kitty, just thought I should warn you… this is going to hurt."

And before Kitty could ask what she meant, the rope tightened and her legs flew backwards with them. Kitty screamed. Her legs where now more or less in a basic split, but her muscles weren't used to this kind of use and therefore protested heavily.

Kitty stopped screaming, taking a few deep breaths, tears rolling down her face.

"Kami this hurts" she muttered.

"This is nothing" Olivia said. "In a month or so this will be standard moves you will be able to do without help. I am simply rushing you along now in the start."

Kitty sighed. The pain was getting duller. Olivia must have noticed this, and responded by dragging at the ropes again, making Kitty once again start screaming.

Most of the first few hours were used to make Kitty nimble. Her body were stretched, bent and tired when Olivia said they were ready to try a few punches. But instead of Kitty punching her, she had Kitty punch the nearby bamboo.

The wood was hard, and every punch felt like Kitty were hitting stone. After another hour Olivia stopped her, Kitty seeing that both the bamboo and her knuckles were covered in blood, her hands shaking and trembling. Olivia looked at her, shaking her head.

"Go and rinse your hands in the water… that's enough of the physical training today, we'll continue with some mental exercise, no need to destroy your body completely."

Kitty walked over to the small stream, sighing in relief as the cold water rushed over her knuckles.

Olivia gave Kitty a small smile as Kitty folded her hands, bringing some water up to her lips and to her face, closing her eyes to enjoy the silence. Rising and following Olivia again, they walked back to her study.

"All right," Olivia said, walking over to a shelf pulling out a chess board. "Do you know how to play chess?"

"Well I know the basics" Kitty said. "But I don't think I'm good at it."

"Well we'll start with a little chess. Chess is a great way to develop your brain into thinking strategies. Maybe we can raise your IQ by a few points."

"Don't hold your breath" Kitty said. "When it comes to certain things I'm hopeless."

Olivia sat down the board, Kitty getting white. Kitty took one of her middle pawns and placed it two squares in front of her. It didn't take Olivia more than 3 minutes to place Kitty in check mate. Another five to do it again and six more for the third one.

Kitty groaned. "Man my head hurts" she complained.

Olivia gave her a sympathetic smile. "You're not used to such tasks of the brain I take it?"

Kitty shook her head. "The closest I get is playing Zelda games."

Olivia looked at her, then rose and walked over to her table, finding a sheet of paper and a pen. Walking back she gave the pages and pen to Kitty.

"Fill that out and answer honestly. If you don't know the answer you make a guess."

"All right… may I ask what this is and why I am answering this?"

"It's an IQ test."

"Scrap metal told us to train you in any way possible. I have a way that is more effective than this but with more downsides than the up's. I told myself that I would only use it if I really needed it… score high enough on that and I won't need it."

With that said Olivia sat down at her desk and pulled on her goggles again, lifting up her welding torch, continuing on the robotic… whatever it was. Kitty looked down at the paper and started reading the first question.

'There are three hundred miles between North station and east station. If train A leaves from North station at 15:00, driving at 5 mph, and train B leaves from east station at 15:15, driving at 10 mph, where would train A and train B meet?'

'Yeah' Kitty thought to herself. 'It's official, I am screwed.'

A few hours later Olivia looked up, seeing Kitty scowling at the paper, now and then counting on her fingers. It was apparent that Kitty did not do well in the math department, or in the advanced logic department. Olivia had to wonder for herself how Kitty had managed to get to lieutenant in Interpol.

"Hey Olivia I think I'm finished" Kitty said, looking through the pages to see if she had jumped over a question.

Olivia blew out her blow torch and walked over to take the test. Looking at the first page she frowned.

"Math's not your thing huh?"

Kitty winced. "Back at elementary school I had a teacher that liked some students better than others. I was not one of them. So in my 4th year when we started learning multiplication I was gotten a sheet and was told to start multiplying. I raised my hand and asked how I was supposed to do that and never got an answer. Next year my family moved and I got a teacher who was willing to help, but by then I loathed math and never really bothered much with it unless I had to. Except for geometry and volumes, I always did those pretty well, but that's because I never considered them math."

Olivia listened in, all the while correction Kitty's papers. She then spoke up.

"A regular person's IQ lies in about ninety five to a hundred. A genius IQ is everything from One hundred thirty to above… My IQ is an even One hundred fifty."

Turning a page, Olivia continued correcting the answers. "Why have you written 42 every time you have guessed the answer?"

Kitty smiled. "Haven't you see the hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy? 42 is the meaning of life, it's bound to be the correct answer sometime right?"

Olivia sighed and shook her head, finishing the paper. "So how bad did I do?"

Olivia looked at her. "97."

Kitty frowned. "Don't lie to me please. I know myself good enough to know that I couldn't possibly ha…" Kitty stopped as Olivia turned the sheet around, Kitty seeing that she had written 97 in the bottom right corner.

"You're not dumb Petro… even if you think so yourself. Unfortunately the score isn't as high as I had hoped."

Olivia walked over to a closet, opening it. Kitty blinked, seeing a small shrine to electronics. "All my inventions" Olivia said, noticing Kitty's stare, before she looked around after something in particular.

She found it after a few seconds of searching, bringing back a small box.

"What is this?" Kitty asked.

"A special pair of contact lenses."

Kitty frowned. "How is a pair of contacts going to make me smarter?"

"Well I suppose that they don't really make you smarter… they simply make life a lot simpler understanding I guess."

Olivia pushed her glasses further up on her nose as she started explaining. "I made these as a project a few years ago, for a friend outside the crew. The lenses have the world's smallest computer embedded in them. Every time your eyes focus on something it will give you the answer to what you need to know. If you look at a chess board it will tell you the best possible moves. If you stand before a piano it will tell you which tangents to push to play a specific song, you look at an equation it will give you the correct answer and even tell you what to change in the equation if you want a different number to be the correct answer. If someone speaks to you in a different tongue everything will be subtitled in front of your eyes."

"All that from a pair of lenses?" Kitty asked shocked.

"Yeah well… it has it's downsides too."

"Really? What kind?"

"Well as I said it gives you information no matter what you look at. Stare long enough on a cake and you will be getting all the information about how much weight you will gain by eating a slice and how long you need to work out for the pounds to disappear again. Every time your eyes flicker around too much the information will come all at once and will probably be a lot to take in at once… every time you are in a life threatening situation the lenses will tell you about it. Also you can never take these lenses out once they are in. The electronics will fasten onto your eye and if you try to remove them they will shock your eyes and make you blind. Once these are in… they can never, under any circumstance be taken out, is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

"All right… sit still, I just need to wash my hands and then we'll get these onto your eyes, shall we?"

Kitty blinked in shock a while later as she tried to get used to this new feeling. Olivia hadn't exaggerated when she said that she would get information about everything she focused on.

Apparently the cupboard was made of oak and made by a Japanese company in 1497. Looking at Olivia Kitty got details of height, nationality and… Kitty's eyes widened. A small note said that Olivia showed signs of sexual abuse.

Silently Kitty wondered how that had turned out, and to her utter shock a police report landed electronically in front of her face detailing about a case which involved a 17 year old girl who had told her parents she was gay, and a mad father who had thought that the correct way to deal with that was to tie his daughter naked to a bed, and tell all the sons of his friends that the first one who got her pregnant could marry her.

Kitty shook, and acted on instinct, rushing over to Olivia and hugged her, as she finished reading that it had taken 3 weeks before a concerned neighbor had noted all the boys that frequented the place and had called the cops.

"Petro what are you doing?"

"I'm so sorry" Kitty said sniffing as angry tears rolled down her face. "The lenses said you showed signs of… abuse 'sniff' and I silently wondered what had happened and the police report came up and… 'Sniff' I'm so sorry."

She felt Olivia tense up for a while, before she patted Kitty on the back.

"That's old news Kitty… terrible old news, and the man responsible died no more than a week after he got into prison in a riot."

"And your mother?"

"Tried to stand up for me and got a blow to the head courtesy of my father… she isn't dead but is in a mental ward, to many blows to the head wasn't good for her psyche. Now please let me go."

Kitty did, more because of the chip than anything else. "Do the others know?"

"She don't… the rest does. Just as I know that Rose broke out of Egyptian jail because she was scheduled for a stoning after getting raped by a man, Audrey killed a cop who killed her parents, brother and sister in front of her eyes, telling her that it was for the best and that the scum living in the ghetto had no place in this world in the first place and just as I know that Montana got kidnapped by a man who intended to kill her by exorcism because she as a gay woman were the child of the devil and it was the only way to save her soul. She escaped and ran back to her village and told everyone what had happened. She was then accused for being a devil for opposing a man of god and was overpowered, tied by her leg's to a horse wich they made gallop out to the desert… she still have the scars on her back from the gravel tearing her apart."

Kitty blinked… and just as she thought this over, Audrey's voice from two days ago rang clear.

"There was a guy in Egypt who had raped a woman and the next day had her arrested for having sex outside marriage… she was sentenced to death by stoning. A guy in China sold his five year old daughter as a sex slave to all of his friends. There was a wife abuser in Canada, a man in the states who kidnapped openly gay people and tortured them in his cellar, calling it exorcism of the devil; nobody survived him… except for one person. In my own city Rio, there was a cop who went around in the ghetto and killed whole families, calling it a blessing because they had no place in this world."

"So that's why you targeted specific people to go after" Kitty said. "You were reminded of your own past and wanted to make sure it didn't happen again."

"Something like that yes" Olivia said. "Now then… shall we play one more round of chess before we are coerced into going to dinner?"

Olivia and Kitty sat down, Kitty trying to not shake off the strange feeling she got as she suddenly got a detailed diagram of moves to do, the best option lighting up in green.

"All right… let's see what we can do with this new powers."


	5. Hopeless

Chapter 5

Hopeless

Kitty had to admit that the new powers currently in her possession were a tad annoying. The fact that she got up new information about various things each time she looked at it would be hard getting used to. But on the other hand, she found that being able to beat a genius in chess 5 times in a row in ten minutes was kind of satisfying.

"All right" Olivia said rising and stretching. "That's enough, we have dinner in a few moments, we'd best get going."

Once at dinner, Olivia had no choice but to tell Neyla about the lenses Kitty now wore, the effects they had and what would happen if Kitty tried to take them out.

As she did this, Kitty had walked over to the piano and started playing Toccata and Fugue in D minor, only stopping after a few notes exclaiming, "Holy shit I can play the piano now, this is so awesome."

Neyla glanced over her shoulder, and then back to Olivia. "You know I'd of thought that training with you would make her a tad more humiliated and humble… you seem to have made the opposite happen."

"You told us to use any means necessary to teach her all we know… and if I am to teach her about strategies, robotics and other things that I know in a tempo that goes as fast as you want it to go, I needed to do this. If you want her to be a sorry mess then you can do it on your own time."

"Careful Olivia, you are stepping on very thin ice."

"My apologies, it was not my intention to sound upset."

Neyla huffed. "No need to lie to me either, I know you can't stand me. And how is our other project going?"

Olivia swallowed, thinking back to their meeting last night.

"It will be done by Sunday morning."

"Excellent, that's all for now Olivia, you may sit down."

Olivia did and Neyla sighed, turning to Kitty.

"Petro if you are going to play, you can might as well play something worthy of the occasion."

Kitty blinked, then thought for a moment, before nodding to herself, starting to sing a song she had a feeling would be appreciated and would not end up with her getting more stitches.

She sang, her voice adapting an accent sounding strangely like Neyla's own voice.

I don't drink coffee I take tea my dear

I like my toast done on one side

And you can hear it in my accent when I talk

I'm an Englishman in New York

Kitty noted gently that Neyla looked at her with a raised eyebrow, Kitty rising straighter to play her part as an upper class Englishman.

See me walking down Fifth Avenue

A walking cane here at my side

I take it everywhere I walk

I'm an Englishman in New York

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien

I'm an Englishman in New York

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien

I'm an Englishman in New York

Kitty smiled, and winked gently to the other 4 in the room as she continued singing pointedly.

If, "Manners maketh man" as someone said

Then he's the hero of the day

It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile

Be yourself no matter what they say

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien

I'm an Englishman in New York

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien

I'm an Englishman in New York

Modesty, propriety can lead to notoriety

You could end up as the only one

Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society

At night a candle's brighter than the sun

Takes more than combat gear to make a man

Takes more than a license for a gun

Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can

A gentleman will walk but never run

Kitty continued singing, seeing that Neyla was listening in carefully, probably wondering if there was a hidden insult somewhere in the lyrics

If, "Manners maketh man" as someone said

Then he's the hero of the day

It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile

Be yourself no matter what they say

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien

I'm an Englishman in New York

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien

I'm an Englishman in New York

Kitty finished, turning to Neyla.

"Was that acceptable mistress?"

"I suppose so… it's better than your previous one at least. Now sit down, the food is getting cold."

The next day Kitty woke up early again, a small part of her getting scared that she seemed to getting used to getting up at the crazy hours that she did. Getting dressed in a pair of jeans, as well as a tight top, Kitty walked out of her room and headed towards Rose's destination, the large room that had once been a storage room.

"Morning Kitty" Rose said, as Kitty walked over to her. "I suppose we should start with the formalities. I am Rose Elandra, born in Cairo Egypt, and I am as you have probably already guessed the thief of the Female Fatale Dragons. With me you will be taught all the basics, pick pocketing, sneaking, lock picking, using your environment to get around, all that a thief needs to know to survive."

Kitty looked around, smiling as her new lenses already told her about 5 hiding places among the boxes in the storage room.

Rose looked at her. "Olivia told us that she gave you a small upgrade; let's see how much it will help you here. First lesson… surviving and getting away from the cop chasing you."

Kitty looked at Rose who pulled out a shock pistol. "I suppose you as an Interpol officer are well known with what this does?"

Kitty did indeed. The standard shock pistol sent out an electrical shard aimed at the person who tried to escape. When it hit the criminal the shard would run all along the criminal's body making them fall unconscious. By the time they woke up they would be handcuffed and already be in the cops custody. Non lethal, but effective.

Rose looked at Kitty. "This pistol has ten rounds worth of bullets in it… I will give you a ten second head start… if I still haven't hit you when I run out of bullets or if I haven't spotted you in five minutes since the last blast you win."

Kitty nodded. Each round in a shock pistol was worth 6 bullets, which meant she had to avoid 60 bullets. The green light in front of her eyes started making up a calculation, of how long time it took for each round to fire, and how long it would take between each shoot. All in all she'd be on her feet for at least two hours if Rose planned each shoot wise.

"Ready Petro?"

"I suppose."

"Very well… as I said, ten seconds. Ten… nine… eight."

Kitty ran. Rounding a corner she asked her new lenses to tell here where to run or go, her lenses flashing green over a pair of boxes, up high away from the ground. Kitty started climbing; remembering one thing Bentley once had told her.

For some reason, the police often forgot to check the roof tops, wich was why the roof where a thief's best friend.

As Kitty reached the top of the boxes she gasped and rolled away as she heard the shock pistol fire, the blast rushing past her ear. Looking down she saw Rose, who without missing a beat fired another blast.

Kitty got to her feet, running along the boxes, going only by instinct, ducking away from the blue sparks following her. In the corner of her eye a green light showed that Rose had used up her first round already.

Kitty looked down to where she had seen Rose, but didn't see her anywhere. She had no more than wondered where the eagle was before she heard a noise behind her. Turning around she saw Rose landing on the boxes, her wings spread wide.

Kitty cursed and ran around a corner, more or less jumping over crates in her attempt to escape. "Damn it" she cursed.

Of course this wasn't working. It was one thing to outsmart a cop, but Rose was a thief with a cop gun. She would think of all the places to hide and the smartest places to go, and no rooftops where safe when the woman could fly. A few more bolts flashed over Kitty's head, and Kitty ducked, doing an involuntary cartwheel down some crates, landing on the floor with a thud.

Still she rose, even if her body were screaming in pain, she needed to avoid those blasts… now she needed to stop thinking about this the wrong way… instead of doing the best choice, do the most unexpected choice.

Kitty rounded a corner, trying to catch her breath, looking around, listening in for footsteps or wing beats. Looking around she looked for a hiding place… and saw a small edge between two crates. Rose would go after her in there she figured, and decided to leave a small trail leading in there, running around the corner away.

Looking behind her she decided to relax and turned, staring down the barrel of the shock pistol Rose held.

Kitty sighed and closed her eyes, holding up her hands. Rose shook her head amused.

"Nice try Petro… but you still think as a cop."

Kitty nodded. "Let me guess… you watched me from the rooftop."

"A thief's best friend" Rose said nodding. "Although I must congratulate you for trying to lead me on the wrong track between the crates… it was the most likely place to hide."

"And that's what I figured" Kitty said. "I thought that it was no point doing something thievish because I knew that you would know all the thief tricks and hiding places."

"So you tried to think on your feet" Rose said smiling.

"And that is most of what a thief is about. You can plan for weeks about the perfect caper, what to do, where to do it, when the guards go around, but anything can happen. A guard can be a tad late because he stopped to tie his shoe laces, a scarab may fly into your eye making you thrash about and make you knock over something to trigger an alarm… anything can happen and when it does the only thing that can save you is your ability to think on your feet. Now let's try this again Petro… and try to not be so obvious with your choices this time around."

Kitty was shocked to realize that it had almost been a week since she arrived at the oil platform when she woke up on Sunday. The day before hadn't been to uneventful, thanks to the new lenses provided by Olivia, the tracking that Montana were teaching her was almost like a game. Gently she wondered what were taking her rescuers so long to find her, but she supposed that they must really be far out at sea and it couldn't be easy to locate her.

Kitty got up, ready for breakfast or whatever it was she was supposed to do since she had no… well classes probably weren't the right word to use, but still.

Walking to the main hall Kitty noted that she and Olivia, as well as Neyla lounging on her make belief throne were the only one present.

"Good morning. Where are the others?" Kitty asked.

"Rose is doing her rounds, Audrey just finished hers and is sleeping, and Montana is picking something up for me."

It was Neyla that answered, a grin plastered on her face, making Kitty slightly worried. Neyla stretched and looked at a nearby clock before rising walking over to the table finding a remote control.

Clicking it, a nearby TV turned itself on, showing yet another new report, about the search for Kitty. Kitty smiled, seeing that the coast guards were sparing no expenses.

Kitty didn't even look around as the doors opened and Montana came in, carrying a long Katana. She handed it over to Neyla who took it without a word of thanks.

"Petro here is a question for you… do you really think I am going to let someone come in here and save you?"

Kitty turned to look at her then, seeing her pull the katana loose from it scabbard with nary a sound.

"I love the way you can use katana's" Neyla said, mostly to the room than to anyone else. "Did you know that if you behead a man the head will stay on the body if you cut it off at the right angle?"

Kitty gulped. She really did not like where this was going. She didn't think that her life was in danger; Neyla needed her to tell her where she should start looking for Carmelita… but harm her… that she would do.

"Kitty, do me a favor and clench your fist and hold out your left arm… and try to not wake up anyone with your screaming."

Kitty rose her arm, trying hard to not follow the command, because she had a sick inkling about what was going to come next, and true enough, no more than a second after her arm was raised, a katana's swish was heard, followed by unimaginable pain.

She screamed. She screamed as loud as her lungs managed to scream, not stopping until Olivia was at her side, starting to do her stuff.

"It's ok Kitty, it's ok, it'll pass."

Neyla sheathed her katana and gave it to Montana and told her to clean it before the blood ruined the priceless sword. She then walked over to Olivia and Kitty, bent down to take up what once had been Kitty's left hand and left the room.

Kitty shook, taking a few deep breaths. "I am going to kill her" she muttered.

"Leave a piece for me and the girls when you do please" Olivia asked, helping Kitty rise. "For what it's worth she screamed louder when I amputated her."

Kitty looked at Olivia as she led Kitty over to the table and sat her down. She then lifted a box up from the floor, taking out a metallic left hand.

Kitty blinked as her mind was going back to her training session with Neyla where Neyla told Montana that she needed to talk to Olivia, as well as Olivia's tinkering when she had been with her.

"You knew… you knew didn't you?"

"When a person orders you to make a robotic left arm and orders you not to tell anyone what you are doing… you get suspicious" Olivia said, winching as she removed the cloth she had plastered over Kitty's arm.

"Please looked away Petro this is not pretty."

"Doesn't matter" Kitty declared.

"Yes it does, don't try to be though."

Kitty turned as the door opened and Montana rushed in, swearing up a storm. She sat down next to Kitty, opened her mouth and closed it again and shook her head.

"Damn Petro I am so sorry."

"Not your fault" Kitty said. "And the next one who apologizes will get it, is that clear?"

She turned to Olivia as she said this, Olivia ignoring her as she worked. Then with a twist Olivia finally finished fastening her arm.

"Now, we need to make you used to this… make a fist, as if it were your real hand."

Kitty did, wonder in her eyes as the robotic hand did as she willed.

"Now place thumb and little finger together, then thumb and ring finger and so on."

Kitty did, finding that it took a tad more effort than she thought.

"All right, now there are some things you can use your new arm to do."

Kitty listened in to Olivia, using the next couple of hours to get used to things she could do and could not do with her new arm. Her pinkie had a hidden dirk installed; her thumb could work as a lighter if the situation needed a small fire and so on. All in all Kitty was surprised to find that she didn't much mind the upgrades. Sure she missed her real arm, but her substitute worked perfectly fine.

While Kitty was being explained all her new features, both Audrey and Rose came and was told what had happened, to which both cursed and told Kitty that when they eventually probably found a way to get the blasted chips off, she was allowed the first punch.

Kitty smiled at them and thanked them for their generosity when the door opened and Neyla walked inside, whistling innocently without a care in the world. Kitty clasped Audrey's arm as the panther was about to rise and tell the tiger just what she thought of her, stopping her.

As Neyla walked past them Kitty spoke up. "Living a life where you think everyone is out to get you must be hard… going through life rather double crossing everyone you meet rather than to try and be their friend because deep inside you know that they will never accept you for being you… some people you have never met save your life and the first thing you do is stab them in the back because you think that they secretly are after you… must be hard living life alone without any friends… without anyone who loves you. You have my pity… but not my sympathies."

Neyla stood with her back to her as she said that, and Kitty noted that everyone else looked at her curiously, the others probably not having even considered why Neyla had done what she had done.

Neyla turned to face her, fury in her face, as she opened her mouth and spoke, her voice trembling. "Everyone except Kitty leaves this room now."

Everyone rose and left the room, some giving Kitty sympathetic looks. Neyla walked over to the table and sat down right across of her. "You talk as if you know me Petro… but you don't."

"Oh really? Then why are you trembling mistress?"

Neyla scowled. "I was born in Calcutta India… I was poor. My mom had left me in a bundle outside an orphanage. She never wanted me. I grew up picking pockets to survive and one day I meet Arpeggio."

"The leader of the Klaww gang… the man you killed when jumping into the Clockwerk frame?"

"Don't interrupt me when I am speaking to you Petro."

Kitty shut up, as Neyla continued.

"He was impressed with me for some reason… or at least that's what he told me. He brought me to England and taught me to read and write and took me in as his protégée."

"Then he introduced me to the rest of the Klaww gang… there was a party and one of the members ended up raping me."

Kitty looked up at that, seeing Neyla's fist shake with fury.

"I went to Arpeggio with the information, and Arpeggio told me that nothing could be done because he needed every piece of the puzzle to work to get to his goal… he needed that stupid wannabe… Neyla took a deep breath, trying hard to control her anger. I then went to confront the man in question, and he laughed in my face and told me that I was lucky to have been able to have such an experience with him. I punched him and returned to Arpeggio. 3 months later I discovered that I was pregnant… and that I was too far along to have an abortion."

"I didn't mind, but Arpeggio did. I got the twins one cold December night. By the time they were out I was exhausted and fainted… by the time I woke up and asked for my children, a henchman told me that Arpeggio had sent two henchmen to drop them off at an orphanage. Once again I confronted him and he told me that he could not work with two crybabies on his blimp, it was not a part of his plan, and he needed me to realize that. I didn't… I punched his sorry face and left."

"The Contessa offered me a place away… a job undercover at Interpol, a chance I jumped to take. And I went… and saw Carmelita for the first time. Saw her look at me with disgust in her face. Found that she never bothered to get to know me or my hardships, always going after that blasted raccoon without thinking. So when the time came that the Klaww gang attacked the museum and I knew that it would be impossible to get Carmelita to go after them because she was convinced that Sly Cooper was behind it… I turned to him. I lead him to Dimitri; trying to make Carmelita understand that I helped out… she got mad that Cooper got away. Then we went to India…"

Neyla took a deep breath calming herself down. "We meet up with the Contessa and I told her about my frustrations, and the Contessa offered me a solution. Frame Carmelita somehow and give her the chance to arrest her. She would brainwash Carmelita for me and I could finally have a friend. So I took a picture of Carmelita dancing with Sly for a later date. Sly left, Rajan lost his wings, and Carmelita blew her cover allowing Rajan to escape. As we found Rajan's hideout I made a deal with myself. If Carmelita gave me credit for capturing both the Cooper clan and Rajan, I would not backstab her… but instead of giving me praise she tried to find an excuse why she hadn't thought of a way before. So I backstabbed her…and in return the Contessa backstabbed me and tried to keep Carmelita for herself."

"So I rang in an anonymous phone call telling exactly what the Contessa did and who she was doing it for… and being closest to the case I got the job to take her down. I got her but Carmelita got away, and Arpeggio called me in, asking if I was ready to work for him again. I decided to go back to his side, biding my time to get revenge on him too. I didn't find Carmelita again until the Clock La affair, as she and Cooper were shooting me down. My body exploded but my mind stayed inside the hate chip… until Carmelita destroyed it and my mind was sent back to my body."

Neyla gave Kitty a long gaze. "Trusting people do not work. I trusted Arpeggio and he gave my kids away because they interfered with his plans. I trusted a fellow Klaww gang member and he raped me and told me to be thankful for it later on. I trusted the Contessa and she took away a person I wanted to respect me… and now Kitty I trust that you will stop being foolish and realize that no one is coming for you. Now tell me, where is Carmelita Fox?"

"I don't know a Carmelita Fox" Kitty said simply. "And once again mistress… you have my pity."

Neyla growled and rose from her seat. "You should be able to do something useful, go to Montana and tell her that you are taking over her rounds for today. The moment you see an enemy you take them down and bring them to me, is that clear?"

"Yes mistress."

"Then go, and don't show your face until dinner."

Kitty left and quickly found Montoya. "Metal face has given me your rounds, what do I need to do and where do I go?"

Montana huffed, giving Kitty a small smile. "Man you really pissed her off this time huh?"

Montana told her the route, telling her where to go and what to look for. "If you see an enemy, which is highly unlikely, knock them out and bring them to her."

"Is this really necessary? We are out in the middle of the ocean; nobody will come here unless they are looking for something."

"Hey we all know that scrap metal is missing a few bolts and screws, but we aren't really in a position to do anything about it are we?"

"I suppose not" Kitty said shrugging, walking in the direction Montana told her to go.

"I'll see you at dinner I suppose."

Nothing eventful happened as Kitty did the rounds. As she walked around she used the time to take in the place, and how big it was, as well as how she could only see the sea outside any window she passed.

As dinner time approached Kitty walked back to the cafeteria. Once there she frowned as she saw everyone looking at her morose, with the exception of Neyla who looked like she had won the lottery. The TV was on Kitty noted, and she turned to watch what was probably a rerun from earlier that day.

"Earlier today the police had an anonymous phone call calling about a find at the rocky shores. When the police arrived they found the remains of a left hand. Fingerprints confirm the identity of the hand's owner as one Lieutenant Kitty Petro who was kidnapped from her home last Tuesday morning. The police have concluded the results with the kidnappers being terrified about the amount of people searching for them and threw Lieutenant Petro out to the sea, her body crashing up against the rocks you see behind me. A memorial service will be held later in the week, anyone is welcome to come and show their respects."

Neyla turned off the TV, apparently satisfied with what she had heard.

"Sit down Petro… or should I call you Ghost now that you are dead to the world?"

Kitty didn't answer, just sat down, trying to not think. Trying not to imagine what went through her friends' heads right now. She served herself a large portion of food and started thinking, each bite bringing out a new distraught face.

As far as the world was concerned… as far as her friends were concerned, she was dead. Nobody would be coming for her now. She was stuck here.

The smile on Neyla's face was almost unbearable, but she was not going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that this hurt more than any scar she had inflicted.

"So Petro… where is Carmelita Fox?"

"I don't know a Carmelita Fox" Kitty said, slicing up a piece of turkey.

"You still going on about this?" Neyla asked, surprise in her voice. "You are never leaving this place, surely you realize that… why are you still protecting a woman that you never will see again?"

Kitty swallowed a piece of turkey and answered. "The only thing that is different now is the fact that my friends aren't coming for me… which means that nobody I know is coming to stop you. Therefore it is even more important than it was before to make sure that she will never land in your hands, and be forced through this."

Kitty smiled and lifted her glass filled with water.

"You might have broken my spirit mistress, but you have strengthened my resolve."

It went a week before anything new and interesting happened. When Kitty arrived at Neyla's room to train more sword arts Neyla just told her that they were going out on a small field trip.

Kitty followed Neyla down to the sea, and sat in a boat driving towards the shore. Kitty and Neyla both wore trench coats and hooded sweaters, Kitty getting told to not speak to anyone, and that she was just following Neyla until further notice. Dread fell over Kitty as they got to their destination… the Notre Dame.

"The service I take it?" Kitty asked.

"Well heaven forbid you were late for your own funeral" Neyla said walking inside, sitting down at the furthest away row in the shadows, Kitty following suite.

A lesser person would have thought that what Neyla did was a favor, allowing Kitty to see all her friends one more time. But Kitty knew better. Each time one of her friends and colleagues went up to talk about what a great person she was it only strengthened the fact that they all believed that she was dead and that nobody was coming to get her.

Kitty had told herself she wouldn't cry. She refused to give Neyla that satisfaction. So she closed her eyes and looked to her feet as Ling walked up.

Neyla's voice whispered in her ears. "Now, now Kitty, that's not any way to treat your man… look him in the eyes when he's talking about you."

And the chip in Kitty's neck obliged, Kitty's head rising, looking straight into Ling's red, bloodshot eyes.

"Just to have asked" Kitty managed to say with fury barely hidden in her voice. "What kind of religion do you belong to?"

"Why do you wonder?"

"Just wondering if I should picture you screaming bathing in lava or if I should start stepping on any eventual cockroaches that appear after you die… preferably a long painful death."

Neyla had the grace to chuckle at that. "I'm Hindu as a matter of fact… although it's been a while since last I prayed to any of the gods."

Kitty huffed. "Not really a good hindu are you? You ooze of bad karma… but good to know, I'll start stomping on cockroaches the moment you are dead."

The service was finished and everyone walked outside. Kitty had gotten a grave, even though she had no body. Kitty had a small inkling that Yuri's money had been responsible for that feat.

Ling and the kids where there long after everyone else had left, everyone giving him their most sincere apologies. Kitty breathed a sigh of relief over the fact that her chip didn't react as she saw Carmelita disguised so well that nobody would have recognized her, if not for her four children following her wake.

A long straight wig hiding most of her face, her clothes being a long black dress. "You know," Neyla said, leaning up against a nearby tree. "If you'd like I can give you permission to pretend to be a friend and go to him and give him a last good bye… of course you need to give me something back."

Kitty looked at Ling's back, as well as her children, sniffing and crying.

She turned to look at Carmelita's retreating form, and finally to Neyla.

"I'm not interested… but thanks' for offering. Can we go home now?"

Neyla smiled. "Oh so its home now is it? No longer a prison?"

"Who says a prison can't be home" Kitty supplied. "Now are we going?"

Neyla smiled and nodded, starting to walk. "I suppose so… take a good look around you Petro, you will never see freedom like this again."

And with that they left, Kitty only once looking back to Ling and the kids who stayed behind at the tombstone, gazing at it forlorn and in despair.


	6. Reunion

Chapter 6

Reunion

Time went by after Kitty's supposed death. The days sort of fell in together, one more uneventful than the other, the sad monotone days only being interrupted by various small missions Neyla would send her out on after her training had progressed far enough. Thinking back, Kitty wondered when she had changed.

Which day had it happened, that the final last piece of the happy friendly girl had disappeared, leaving behind the girl who could care less about the people around her, as miserable as she was?

She looked at herself in the mirror, taking her time looking at the reflection looking nothing like her old self. Her blonde hair had grown and had been sat up in a high ponytail. Her face and body showed scars of sparring with Neyla and several of the other girls on Neyla's orders. Her metal hand had been replaced several times because of Neyla's insistence that she learned to use it as a shield, to Olivia's great dismay.

Her body, once lithe and tiny, where now muscled and toned, after spending ages in the gym with Audrey. On her back rested two swords, the thief blade being more travel size convenient carrying around like the way she had them at the moment.

Satisfied that she looked as good as she could in this hell hole Kitty left her room to meet up with the other's in the main hall. As she walked, she had a strange feeling that something was going to happen. She could not explain it but something seemed… different.

Kitty walked along the metal road in front of her, plotting in her code for entering the main hall, and was meet by the rest of the gang, with the exception of Audrey and Rose. Kitty walked over to Montana who sat leaning her boots on the table as usual, the hare looking bored as usual.

"So I presume that Rose and Audrey are out on a job?" Kitty asked to no one in particular.

"Yes" Neyla said, her fingers clicking away at the table as she waited impatiently.

"And they are taking their sweet time coming back."

Just as she said this, the door opened again and Rose and Audrey walked in, Audrey carrying a large crate, Rose panting exhausted.

"About bloody time" Neyla said, standing up as Audrey sat down the crate.

Kitty just stared at the crate, and at the logo on it. She sincerely hoped that she remembered wrong and that the logo was not the logo belonging to the people she thought it belonged too.

Rose huffed, taking a deep breath. "Hey I will have you know, the place you sent us too had an insane amount of security. I mean sheesh; Fort Knox is easier to break into than that shop."

Kitty rose, walking over to trace a hand over the logo, and the name below it. C'est Sing.

"Are you insane?" She finally asked, her voice trembling. "You can't steal from… You do not steal from Yuri Sing; do you know what will happen when she finds out?"

Neyla laughed. "Oh yes I am so afraid of what a fashion mogul will do once she finds a few meters of fabric missing. What will she do, call her rich parents?"

Neyla opened the crate, Kitty seeing all red and yellow garments. "Besides Petro this is mostly all for you."

Kitty looked at the tiger next to her who grinned. "It's about time you got a uniform of your own… after all you have been here for 2 years on the very day."

Kitty blinked. 2 years… it had been 2 years? 2 years since she had a family and friends, 2 years since she had freedom and the possibility to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted.

Neyla grinned at her. "Now then Petro happy anniversary… anything you'd like to say?"

Kitty swallowed and looked at the box in front of her.

"Yuri Sing is connected to the Cooper clan… I think it's fair to note that Yuri probably have the crates chipped with a tracing chip… if I were you I'd get rid of the crate before Sly and his crew comes to get it back… After all we both know what will happen if he does show up… History likes to repeat itself after all."

Kitty looked up at Neyla who tried hard to not look worried at these pieces of news.

"How do you know this?" Neyla asked her. Kitty smiled.

"I might have been a cop working with Carmelita Fox… but that does not mean that I was a good cop. I had a way of looking the other way if I came over criminals who didn't seem like nuisance to the general public. Like thieves going after worse thieves providing evidence to get them locked up."

Kitty turned to the box and continued. "Nor did I go after fashion moguls who designed outfits for criminals because she needed some excitement in her life."

Kitty smiled again. "Is there anything else Mistress or am I free to do my rounds?"

"One more thing Petro."

"Yes?"

"Where can I find Carmelita Fox?"

"I don't know a Carmelita Fox… and to be honest any lead I could possibly give is probably a dead trail after two years don't you think?"

And with that Kitty left, ducking sideways as she heard Neyla throw a dagger towards her cheek.

Walking out of the room and closing the door Kitty paused to think clearly. The Cooper gang huh? Once she might have jumped for joy at the thought of them coming but now… things had changed. She was no longer the happy go lucky girl she had been and she probably would not be that person again.

She had changed too much. As far as she was concerned it was better for her friends to think that she was dead, and rather remember who she had been as opposed to who she was. She could not go back… not after all of this. She took a deep breath and started walking, looking half heartedly.

Suddenly she stopped. She swore she had heard a sound… was it possible that… nah couldn't be… could it. She looked around, listening in; her eye's scanning everything around her. She continued walking after a while, finding nothing. But even as she walked, she felt alert.

If someone was following her then… Kitty rounded a corner, hiding in the shadows. True enough another shadow rounded the corner, walking in following her. As the figure had passed Kitty acted and placed her blade at her stalker's throat.

"I am only going to say this once. I have been ordered to knock out any enemies and take them back to my boss who will force any eventual trespassers into slavery… you aren't an enemy are you? You are just a person who arrived at the wrong place at the wrong time… right?"

"It is as you say" said the voice.

The voice was female and way too familiar for Kitty's taste.

"All right" Kitty said removing her blade. "Then let's talk."

The figure turned and Kitty swore silently as she saw Carmelita's face staring back at her.

Carmelita stared back at her and spoke up. "You got a name kid?"

Kitty almost laughed. She had changed so much then… changed so much that Carmelita did not recognize her.

"I do… but it's not important for you to know it Mrs. Cooper."

Carmelita did not look too surprised. "So you know who I am. Do you know why I am here?"

"I am guessing because of the crate of clothes that my stupid boss stole… and I am telling you now, one person to another that if you value your life and your freedom you will leave now. I do not care how many of the crew that is here, you will leave and you will not look back, it's a crate of fabric, nothing worth losing your freedom over."

"When you say losing my freedom… what does that even mean?"

Kitty sighed, thinking hard. "All right… am I right in guessing that the brain of the operation is listening in on everything we are saying?"

"Well yes but…"

"Then do me a favor and let him take a look at this." Kitty turned around and lifted her ponytail away from her neck, her chip gleaming in the little light that was available.

She heard Carmelita taking a picture with her binocucom and turned around. Carmelita held a hand up to her ear, probably listening in to whatever Bentley told her. She paled, and Kitty sighed.

"You get it now? Then leave and don't look back."

Kitty turned around and were about to leave when Carmelita spoke again.

"We can help."

"No you can't… leave and do not look back, is that clear?"

"I don't have to listen to you" Carmelita said annoyed.

"Maybe not… but if you try to fight you will find that the 5 of us that are forced to fight have no choice but to fight… and in your case you do not want to get captured. Now please leave and stop making trouble."

"You don't even want me to help free you? You are that afraid of the consequences?"

"It's not me I am worried about… it's my friends. My answer will not change… please leave."

And with that Kitty left, knowing deep inside that Sly was watching from somewhere. Once he had told her that she had a special way of walking and that no matter what, she would never manage to trick him with any disguise. She hoped he was wrong this time.

Kitty walked away and continued on her route, wondering why she felt so indifferent about seeing Carmelita again… thinking it over she supposed it was because as far as she was concerned, Carmelita would never again know who she was. And she herself would never go back to her former life.

If Carmelita could look at her and not know who she was then odds were that nobody else would either, and that was good enough for Kitty… although why didn't she let Carmelita help her with… she shook her head. She did not want to think about it.

Finishing her round around the platform she ended up back in the main hall, where Neyla and the others were waiting.

"No enemies sighted" Kitty said, honest once again.

"Good… now come here my precious protégé, we are going to have some fun."

Kitty sighed. Neyla's version of fun usually ended up with her bleeding and with more scars.

"A simple spar" Neyla said, drawing out a small blade. "But before we begin I will ask again… where can I start looking for Carmelita Fox?"

"I do not know a Carmelita Fox, and you are wasting your time. If you are going to kill me then do so and get it over with."

"Kill you? Oh no no no, I have put too much time into making you who you are my dear… killing you would be a waste of resources."

Kitty growled. She was sick and tired of this. Sick and tired of this demon from hell doing whatever the hell she wanted with her. She didn't even move as Neyla walked up to her and hit her square in the jaw.

"I'll ask again" Neyla said grinning. "Where is she?"

"Who?"

Another punch, this time to the left eye. Kitty groaned momentarily but then grinned. She was tired of this… might as well make the woman mad enough to lose control. Maybe if she was lucky it would be over soon.

"You do of course realize that what you have in store for her won't work?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"All these years you have been talking about how you wanted nothing but her respect… nobody here honestly believe that… you loved her. Loved her the moment she walked through the doors, and when she didn't love you back you got furious. You tried to help her by taking down Dimitri but she wasn't satisfied… you took a picture of her and Sly dancing, probably in the moment of fury seeing how happy she was in his arms, and the Contessa promised to brainwash her for you so she would love you… it all fell apart for you didn't it? And that's the problem with that chip… you can force us to do whatever the hell you want us to do, but the moment we slip away you lose control."

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH."

Kitty did. And then she smiled and opened it again. "Thank you for proving my point mistress… now of course let's say that you do get her here and get a chip on her neck… are you still going to try to make her love you? Are you going to rape her like Rajan did to you and then tell her that she should be happy that you didn't kill her?"

Neyla growled and hit Kitty so hard that she was lifted off her feet and crashed into the wall.

Neyla turned to the other four in the room. "You… out… NOW."

The girls did not need to be told twice, and ran towards the door. The moment it closed Neyla walked over to Kitty and lifted her by the collar of her shirt.

"Give me one good reason to not gut you and leave your bloody corpse bleeding all over the room."

"Because that's what I want. I am tired of being alive for your amusement… I am never giving you what you want mistress… you can might as well kill me and get the satisfaction that you have ruined my life."

Neyla growled. "How did you know?"

"That you loved Carmelita or that it was Rajan that raped you?"

"Both."

"Well let's start with Rajan. Looking back to the Klaww gang caper Dimitri was captured, but somehow he mysteriously managed to escape incarceration without seemingly any help a week later… you would not have helped him escape if he had wronged you so."

"The Contessa we can rule out because of obvious reasons, and as for Jean Bison I doubt he would have raped you unless he thought you were a piece of limber. And that leaves Rajan and Arpeggio… and you would not have gone back to or stayed at Arpeggio's place that long if he had indeed been responsible for the deed. Elementary mathematics my dear."

"As for you loving Carmelita… well I got eyes in my head. I used to be an amazing match maker back in the day, and being bisexual I too had the hots for a certain Latino vixen. I mean come on, those jeans, that halter top, the badge resting against her cleavage… I mean wow."

"Besides that… when it comes to revenge this seems like an awful lot of trouble. Had you wanted to hurt her you only needed to tell the others to stay while you were out and find her in her home and beat her bloody and finally kill her before leaving. But you want her here… you want her mind controlled and in your arms."

"This has nothing to do with pain; this is all about you wanting her in your arms and wanting her to want you… and no matter how important you think these chips are you will never get what you want. So kill me Mistress… no matter how this ends you have already lost."

Neyla growled, and let Kitty go. "I do not think so. If I have to suffer, so do you. Leave, and don't come back until lunch."

"Yes mistress" Kitty said, leaving the room, cursing her luck. She would turn old and grey before she'd escape this it seemed. She walked back to her room and opened the door and walked in, only to be met with a fist to the face.

She looked up and saw to her dismay Carmelita standing there, Sly further in the room, glancing at her, his facial expression almost impossible to figure out.

Kitty closed the door and locked it. "Scrap metal hit's harder" she said, taking off her blades, laying them on her dresser. "And why the hell are you still here?"

This time Kitty's hand stopped the fist from Carmelita, the woman shaking with fury.

"What is your name?"

"What does it matter?"

"DAMN IT WOMAN WE WERE INSIDE THAT ROOM WE SAW AND HEARD EVERYTHING, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

Kitty looked at her as she said this, Carmelita shaking, tears flying down her face.

"You tell me… look at my face and see if it is someone you know. If not I suppose I am no one you know."

Kitty let Carmelita's hand go and walked over to her bed about to sit down when Sly grabbed a hold of her left arm.

"May I help you?" She asked.

Sly didn't answer, simply lifted the arm, viewing the metal hand there.

"Nice robotics… what happened to your real one?"

His voice trembled too Kitty noted, and she knew that the jig was up. She chuckled and took it back.

"It was cut off by a maniac who didn't wish for the coast guard to dig to close to her home."

Carmelita's shaking turned into a sob. "Kitty… it's really you isn't it?"

"Kitty died a long time ago I'm afraid… this is simply the shell that is left behind. Now please for the love of god, leave."

"And leave you behind? Behind with that darn monstrous bloody tigress… how did she even survive?"

"The women here saved her… had to replace most of her body with metal but they saved her… and she repaid them with a dagger in the back. And metal face isn't that bad, as long as you know how to handle her."

"And judging by all your scars you must know how to handle her so very well."

"Most of them were worth it. And I am not going to change my mind… I am not going back… I have changed too much… it is better that everyone remember who I was than meeting the one I have become."

"You think you are the only one who has changed Kitty?" Sly was the one who spoke up, Kitty knowing that the raccoon was feeling restless.

"When you disappeared we went a week worrying, everyone commenting on how quiet everything had become… when we thought you had died… it was like a part in everyone died as well. Naomi and Murray could not deal with the aftermath, they left and last we heard they were studying with a mystic guru in Australia, leaving their kids with Naomi's father who is taking good care of them."

"Carmen and Carlos uses at least one hour a day to go to your grave and talk about their day, wanting you to know that they miss you… for heaven's sake Kitty, Yuri cut her hair and started wearing pants because of you."

Kitty looked at him. "And Ling?"

Sly and Carmelita shared a look, both looking towards the ground. "I am waiting," Kitty said simply, her tone brooking no disagreement.

"2 months after the funeral… he helped with a raid for Interpol… Uma was there, she said that he did all the rookie mistakes, as if he wanted the enemy to… he never came out of the storage room… and his lawyer came to Yuri the next day and said that according to his will he wanted her to be guardian for your kids… Yuri welcomed them with open arms of course."

Kitty nodded. "Yeah I thought as much… man he always did stupid things for love… now then if there is nothing else you can leave. I am tired and need to relax."

"Are we discussing this again? Kitty we are not going to leave you here, we are taking you home."

Kitty chuckled. "Carmelita this is my home… has been for the last two years." Kitty was about to say something else but didn't get the chance as Carmelita struck.

A jolt of pain went up Kitty's spine as Carmelita's blade hit the chip in her neck. Carmelita backed off and Kitty looked to her side and saw the small black square that was left of the chip.

"I didn't know your blades could store electrical charges… is that a new trick?"

"Not really, but it's not one we like using" Carmelita said. Kitty nodded, taking up a hand to touch her neck.

"It's really off… it is really gone." Kitty laughed and cried at the same time, Sly and Carmelita giving her some time to adjust.

"Right… I'm good" Kitty said, rubbing at her eyes. "Now I got a few questions, how many volts were in that blast?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I have four friends here who are in desperate need of getting these blasted things off… and then I am going to kick Neyla's metal face to pieces. Now I'll ask you again, how many volts?"

"Ten… according to Bentley that was the amount of electricity needed to fry the things to pieces."

"Very well… I suppose it's pointless to try and force you to leave now that I think about it… at least until everything is settled… But I would ask that you don't do anything until the rest of us have finished or give you the ok. We are the one's who have suffered, you got your revenge a long time ago, am I making myself clear?"

Carmelita frowned. Kitty sounded so different. "Not a hidden joke, no excitement in her voice… only pure hate and contempt."

"Yes Kitty… of course."

"Very well. Neyla never bothers to look up at the upper platform in the main hall, wait there for a while. We will come when we are ready."

Kitty lifted her swords and placed them back in their place over her shoulders in a cross pattern and opened the door. As she were to leave she turned.

"I am not going to thank you for trying to take me back… but I will thank you for getting this off."

And with that Kitty left, leaving Carmelita and Sly behind. Sly shook his head.

"Wow… she sure has changed. I didn't hear a single joke coming out of her mouth during that entire meeting… not even something along the lines of; you look like you have seen a ghost."

Carmelita hit his shoulder. "Stop joking around… she hasn't been the same here without her friends, that's all… I'm sure it will all turn out for the better when she comes home."

"Didn't she say she didn't want to come home?"

"I didn't care about what she wanted before either, I'll take her home even if I have to kidnap her."

…

Kitty walked along the hallways towards Olivia's room. It was the closest to her own and in a way the best one to start with. Knocking on the door she heard Olivia's voice allowing her to enter, smiling friendly as she entered and saw Olivia playing chess with herself.

"Hi Olivia, how are you doing?"

"Same as always… a little frustrated over the fact that you suddenly seem very keen on trying to leave the rest of us alone and have metal face kill you."

"Yeah sorry about that" Kitty said, scratching the back of her head. Without Olivia noticing Kitty started twisting on one of her fingers on her metal hand.

A few upgrades ago Olivia installed a small electrical charge, just in case she needed it for some heist. Kitty walked behind Olivia, trying to look as if she was studying the chess board, and quickly dipped her electrical charged finger onto the chip on Olivia's neck.

Olivia didn't even get a chance to react before it was all over. She rose and turned to Kitty, about to open her mouth and ask what the hell she was doing, but stopped as she saw Kitty holding up the chip. She sat down looking shell shocked, and then started crying.

Kitty smiled and lay the chip down on the table. "Do with that as you please. It takes 10 volts to get the thing off, I am going towards Montana and Audrey, can you help Rose?"

"Of course… Of course I can."

Kitty smiled. "All right… I'll see you at dinner. And remember that I got dibs on the first punch."

"Oh that you have earned" Olivia said, lifting up the chip again. "That you have earned indeed."

Kitty left and headed towards a room that once had been a greenhouse, but now served as Montana's residence. Kitty's training, as well as her lenses, found the trail through bushes and small trees to Montana, resting in the top of an oak that had probably been planted in the former greenhouse as a joke.

"Hey Montana, can you come down here, I got something I want to show you."

Montana opened her eyes, lifting her hat away from her eyes. "Is this important Kitty?"

"Very much so. Now get your lazy butt down here."

Montana sighed but jumped out from the tree. "All right I am here, now what is so impo ARRRRRRRRGHH. THE HELL DO YOU THink you… are… doing?"

Kitty smiled, as she held up the chip, Montana's face going from angry to surprised and then to ecstatic. Lifting her hand back to her neck she smiled. And then she laughed, lifted Kitty into her arms and spun her around laughing.

"All right, all right, you can let me down now; I still need to help Audrey."

Montana stopped and let Kitty down to the ground. Kitty smiled at her.

"Now you continue acting like nothing is wrong… I want a clear shot at Neyla's face before she realizes that something is wrong, ok?"

"Yes ma'am" Montana said grinning. "Being, discreet, I can do that."

"Great. I will see you at lunch Montana."

True enough, at lunch there were five very content people sitting at the table waiting for Neyla to come. And when the door opened and Neyla did walk though, their faces turned sour and spiteful, as they always did.

Neyla barely looked at them, her face resting at Kitty's.

"You have a lot of nerve Petro… but that's all right. For nerves can be calmed down… and totally crushed. Now I will give you one more chance… where can I find Carmelita Fox?"

Kitty took a deep breath and rose from her seat, standing face to face with Neyla.

Then she smiled and with a lightning speed hit the tigress in the face, with such force that she flew a few feet before crashing to the floor.

"Carmelita, Carmelita, now what happened to her again, it's been so long." Kitty looked thoughtful trying to appear as if she was thinking hard, as Neyla clutched her jaw wondering what had just happened.

"Oh wait now I remember, after Carmelita quit the force she went to someone who cared about her, as opposed to the idiots at Interpol who treated her like garbage… now that I think about it I think I also was a tad responsible for getting the two together."

Kitty dropped all pretence and turned to Neyla who had risen from the floor, her ears listening in on all the info Kitty gave.

"It was about… five or six years ago that in the Notre Dame cathedral, in front of their friends, myself included that Carmelita got married to the man she loved."

Kitty smiled at Neyla, a smile remarkable alike one Carmelita herself could use when she was about to bust a real bad crook.

"I no longer know a Carmelita Fox Neyla… however I do know a Carmelita Cooper… as for where she is… well who do you think helped me get this blasted chip off?"

Kitty relished in pleasure as Neyla's face turned white.

"Now then… I got the first hit you guys, anyone else want to kick her ass?"

"Don't mind if we do" Montana said, rising to her feet, pulling away her hat from her eyes once as the rest of the group rose, all giving Neyla various 'you are going down' looks.

Neyla growled and dragged out a gun from her pocket, aiming it at Kitty.

Kitty, who noticed that Sly and Carmelita had started too decent from behind Neyla's back, decided to look like she had no care in the world.

"You brought a gun to a fist fight Neyla? That's not very nice."

"You think you have won Petro? I have six bullets in this gun and you are five people… I can take down each and every one of you here without even trying."

"Actually you can't… and we are 7, not counting the ones that are probably hiding somewhere."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Look behind you."

"Yeah right, as if I am going to fall for that one."

Carmelita chose that time to pat Neyla's shoulder gently. On instinct Neyla turned around only to fly across the room as Carmelita punched her face.

Carmelita winched and shook her arm. "Damn that hurt, what is her head made out of?"

"Mostly stainless steel" Olivia answered curtly. "As is her right arm, her left leg and about a third of her tail… I suppose you are Carmelita Cooper?"

Carmelita nodded, taking up the gun Neyla had dropped, taking out all the bullets, making them fall to the ground.

"She is all yours, I just wanted to punch her smug face once."

Kitty smiled and cracked her knuckles. "You heard the lady… have at it everyone."

Many punches, kicks and throws later, Neyla was on the floor, Kitty's boot resting at her throat. Kitty merely scowled at her, before she spoke up.

"Carmelita can you come here for a minute?"

Carmelita walked up to where Kitty and Neyla was, Neyla glaring at Carmelita, Carmelita returning the gesture.

"Right" Kitty said simply. "If it is something you two want to say to each other do it now… you won't get a second chance."

Carmelita looked at Kitty. "What are you planning to do with her?"

"That's our business, not yours… but if you two have something unfinished to discuss you should do it now."

Carmelita looked at Neyla, disgust in her voice as she spoke. "Why? Why did you sell me over to the Contessa when you knew I had done nothing wrong?"

"Nothing wrong?" Neyla replied with a laugh. "Now that's rich. Through the entire time we were so called partners, you never, not even once, tried listening to me or my ideas and suggestions."

"I told you that the Klaww gang was responsible for the Clockwerk part theft, did you listen? No. You insisted we stayed in Cairo and waited for Cooper's obvious return because he would surely be back at the scene of the crime. I had to lure him into going after the gang, something I would not have needed to do if you had listened to me in the first place… Dimitri's capture… who told you that he was on the move and gave you evidence about his crimes? I did, and yet you did nothing until you heard that Cooper had gone after him."

"As for the whole Rajan thing, I hope you realize that we could have taken him down at that blasted party if you hadn't blown our cover the moment you realized that Cooper had gotten away. You and your stupid Spanish temper. And you know what, if you had had the grace to say SOMETHING positive to me the moment I captured both Rajan and two thirds of the Cooper gang, I would not have given you to the Contessa… but you didn't. instead of doing what a good partner should do and congratulated me, you stood there gaping, trying to find an excuse as to why you hadn't managed it… your incarceration was your own fault."

Carmelita scowled at her. "Well what the hell was I supposed to do? You talk about how I should have trusted you the moment you walked through the door, how in the world could you think like that? You hadn't even had any police training from any school; the Contessa simply dumped you in my lap saying that you had potential… Well I never saw it. All I saw was a stubborn kid who thought that I should drop everything I had in my hands the moment she had a new clue, well tough luck, the force don't work like that."

"As for the capture of Sly, Murray and Rajan, you used underhanded methods Neyla… you made sure that they fought each other. You made Sly and his friends flood a large part of India's jungle. I know for a fact that you several times meet with Sly… a real cop would have taken him in then and there, but you didn't… and you did not deserve any form of thanks from me after doing something like that."

"So I'm a bad guy for consorting with thieves and criminals am I? And what does that make you little miss hypocrite?"

"Someone who is willing to do whatever it takes for the one's I love… and we have no more to talk about."

Carmelita turned and looked at Kitty. "We will leave you guys alone; I think you'll want the privacy."

"Thank you" Kitty said smiling. "We will be out the moment we are done here."

Carmelita and Sly left, Sly stopping for a moment.

"Bentley was in a wheelchair for three months after that incident… the Clockwerk beak fell down on his shell and cracked it. He wanted me to tell you that seeing your body in the condition it's in he gives you his pity, but not his sympathies."

And with that said Sly and Carmelita walked out the doors and closed it.

"Right", Kitty said turning to Neyla. "Then there was us."

"If you are going to kill me, feel free to do it now" Neyla said grumbling.

"Oh no no no no… Death is too good for you Neyla… anyone have any suggestions?"

"I got one" Olivia said. Her voice was somber, as if she really didn't want to say what she had to say.

"Well we are listening Olivia."

Olivia reached down into a pouch and pulled out a single chip. Nobody spoke, they all knew what Olivia was hinting at.

"This is the last one… the moment I got free I fried the rest of them and burned the blueprints. I have been thinking about this for a while now… If we kill her, she gets off easy and we have to live the rest of our lives knowing that we have killed someone. We put this on her and does what she did… we become her and she wins… but if we put this on her… and tell her to leave… to go to some large city, blend with the crowd and be a no name pencil pusher for the rest of her life… she loses… as does we."

Kitty nodded. "I see what you are saying… we can't win, so we might as well lose as long as she loses too. She gets away, but has to live the rest of her life alone as a nobody… I have no objection to that… does anyone else?"

Nobody spoke up. "Very well… she's all yours Olivia."


	7. Home is where your heart is

Chapter 7

Home is where your heart is

The five girls had come out to the cooper gang, sitting in the boat they had probably arrived with in the first place.

Olivia had had the great idea of placing the chip on Neyla's face under the metal sheathing, so that the chip would never be in any danger of getting electrocuted… this punishment was for life.

Kitty looked at Sly, Carmelita and Bentley, who she saw had grown a few inches since last she saw him. "All right… what now?"

"We called Yuri… we haven't mentioned any names but told her that we saved a group of people under mind control from a foe… she would very much like to meet you all. I also think you'd be better off coming away from this place, to many memories along the hallways right?"

"I know the feeling" Rose said with a nod. "A day away would not be too bad."

Kitty didn't speak.

"Something the matter Kitty?" Audrey asked.

"It's just… I've changed… I know that the truth will come out but… I sort of wish that it wouldn't… I'm not sure if I am ready to see everyone again."

"Well better to jump than to crawl" Montana said, stepping down into the boat.

"Yeah I suppose" Kitty said with a sight. "Very well, let's go and face the past shall we?"

The boat ride into the main land was uneventful. Kitty sat glancing at her reflection in the ocean as they rushed along, taking time at each and every scar, including the one that stood out the most, a long scar going from the start of her right eyebrow, going down horizontally over her nose, ending at the start of her mouth.

That one she had gotten when Neyla decided it had been ages since she fought with rapiers… man that thing had hurt. A sudden light made her turn her face away from the water, seeing Paris lighted up, the Eiffel tower welcoming them home. After a small detour through Paris's streets, the Cooper gang van stopped outside Yuri's villa.

Kitty gulped. Guys… "I am getting a serious case of nerves here… do you think it would be ok for me to wait outside?"

Sly and Carmelita shared a look, but it was Bentley who spoke up. "Of course Kitty. We installed a basketball field out back, why don't you go there and we'll check in on you later."

"Thanks' Bentley, that's nice of you."

Kitty disappeared around a corner and Bentley looked at Sly and Carmelita.

"She has been through a lot… we should give her some time to think before her head explodes."

He shrugged and walked up to the door opening it, inviting the others inside. Olivia stepped up next to Bentley.

"I suppose we should tell you everything?"

"I think we'd all like that" Bentley said smiling.

"Very well… but any children should be taken out of the room… it's not a pleasant tale and I don't wish to give them nightmares."

"Understood, I'll let everyone know."

…

Kitty stood under the basketball hoop, bouncing the ball in her hand a few times before throwing it, her eyes doing the necessary calculations making the ball fly straight through the hoop, not even touching anything except the net.

It had been almost an hour since the others had walked in… Olivia was probably getting to the end of the tale now. She wondered how many would rush out here and tackle her, crying tears of joy. She walked over and got the ball again, stopping as she heard the noise of a door being opened.

She looked over to where the noise was and saw a figure that could only be one person. She chuckled.

"Evening Yuri… what brings you out here this late?"

Yuri closed the door she had opened and walked over to Kitty. Looking closer Kitty had to admit that she was shocked. True, Sly had told her that Yuri had cut her hair, but Kitty had imagined something akin to long to the neck… not the almost punk short styled hair that Yuri was currently sporting.

Kitty also noted that even with such a tomboyish look, she still looked very feminine. Yuri didn't speak, simply walked up to Kitty and held her face in her hands, as she had done the day they had meet. Kitty tried to fight back the lump in her throat, as Yuri traced every scar with her fingers, before she finally spoke.

"That woman really hurt you bad, didn't she cheri?"

Kitty noted for a fraction of a second that Yuri sounded close to crying herself, before she collapsed into Yuri's embrace. Yuri calling her cheri after 2 years was too much. She cried, intent to never letting go of Yuri's figure, the snow leopard holding her firmly.

"I missed you so much," Kitty said finally.

"And we have missed you" Yuri said smiling gently. "Now come… I can't be so selfish as to hold onto you myself; you have many more friends inside who want to meet you again."

Kitty didn't protest this time. It was something about Yuri's very being that made you complacent and just did as she told you to do. Kitty walked up to the door, Yuri still gripping her shoulder and walked inside.

Once there she followed the sounds of voices, coming into the living room. Svetlana were the first one who noticed her. She stopped talking, in the middle of a discussion she had been having with Maria, and just looked at her, before she covered her mouth with her hands and started to cry.

The others looked at where Svetlana was looking, Kitty recognizing each and every one, even with a lot of her friends looking older, with various new hairstyles. Kitty took a while to let them look at her before she walked over to Svetlana who still looked like the one who was taking this the worst. Gently taking her hand, Kitty helped Svetlana up in a standing position, and hugged her smiling.

That made Svetlana's water works start for real, Kitty only adding to the flood. When Svetlana calmed down she looked at Kitty again, who smiled sadly.

"You doing better there tovarich?" Kitty asked, Svetlana nodded.

Kitty smiled and turned to the dragons who sat nearby, trying their best to fit in amongst the rest. "If anyone wonders… this is how a tigress should behave."

"You got no objections from me" Audrey said, Kitty turning to Svetlana again, as she had lifted a hand up to one of Kitty's many scars.

"Blimey" Jack muttered coming over and hugging Kitty herself. "You really got it hard huh? I mean seriously, I have seen war heroes with less scarring than this."

"Yeah well… in the end they were all worth it."

Sean frowned at her, with his own scarred face. "You are taking this remarkably well Kitty."

"It's not the scars that's important… it's the stories behind them."

Kitty held up a hand to her cheek, and a scar she had there. "The first day I was there I sat with everyone with the exception of Rose and Neyla. I started singing a song that more or less put a rather comic view on the situation we were in… the other three started to laugh as I sang, probably for the first time in many years… in the middle of the song Neyla walked in and for the song I was rewarded with a strike of a whip… but as I sat down I saw that the others were still smiling… and that was what I had tried to achieve in the first place, making everything worth the trouble."

Uma laughed her hearty laugh, the one that Kitty had missed oh so much.

"Well pardon me saying so Freundin but it looks like you got more than some scars from your adventure."

Kitty grinned and flexed her arms for Uma. "Yeah well you would be amazed at what 2 years worth of training can do… bet you I can beat you in arm wrestling."

"Don't take that bet" Audrey said speaking up. "She might be small, but she is strong."

Uma looked at Audrey, then back to Kitty. "Maybe at a later date fraulein."

Kitty huffed. "Spoilsport."

Yuri smiled and looked at everyone. "Well, it is getting late, I will start making dinner, and you are all welcome to stay. She turned to the dragons. As for you we cannot thank you enough for bringing back Kitty… you are welcome to stay for as long as you'd like."

"Much obliged Madame Yuri" Montana said. "We will probably take you up on that offer."

Carmelita rose from her seat. "Well… anyone want to join me and try to explain this to the kids playing upstairs?"

"I'll join you" Bentley said. "If I don't Phillipe is going to figure out what we are not telling them and try to figure out things of his own."

Kitty smiled gently. "When they want to meet me, tell them I am outside… Olivia, I am getting tense, want to have a small spar?"

Olivia smiled and rose. "Of course Kitty, you lead the way."

Kitty smiled and turned towards the others. "The show is free for anyone who want's to watch, just so you know, we do this often and are professional, please do not try this at home without permission from your local dojo sensei."

Trish shook her head. "Yeah… that's Kitty all right, I was starting to wonder."

SLYCOOPERSLYCOOPER

About fifteen minutes after starting to prepare the dinner Yuri stepped out on the porch seeing everyone gathered there. With a frown she also noticed that everyone had various looks of shock and disbelief on their faces, the kids who had come down was in front and were screaming in ecstatic awe.

Looking were everyone else was looking she saw what everyone else had been staring at. Kitty and the otter… Olivia she seemed to remember her name being; was having a showcase spar of martial arts.

Kitty… good old Kitty who once upon a time got out of breath by walking up a case of stairs were doing splits, summersaults, kicks, punches and sidestepping away from Olivia, both with a smile on their faces as if they were simply playing around.

Bentley took off his glasses and cleared them before putting them back on his nose again. "They have been doing this for fifteen minutes" he said in awe. "How in the world is Kitty still standing?"

Montana laughed. "Oh please, this is nothing; they have barely started warming up."

As she said this Kitty managed to find an opening in Olivia's defense and delivered a hard kick to Olivia's chest, making the otter fly backwards to the crowd.

She sat up, holding up a T with her hands. "Time out" she muttered.

She rose to her feet. "Audrey."

Audrey walked over and held out a hand that Olivia smacked.

"Tag, you're it."

Kitty smiled. "Oh joy, fresh meat."

Audrey walked over to stand in front of her and lunged. Soon the two were standing with both their hands locked to the others in an intense fight of power.

Uma and Aslan whistled, seeing with a trained eye how strong Kitty actually had become. Then suddenly Kitty changed strategies and instead of fighting back she let Audrey win, making the woman stumble forward. Kitty held out a leg, and Audrey went crashing into the ground.

Kitty panted. "All right… that's enough for now, we can continue this later." She helped Audrey up on her feet. "You ok there Audrey?"

"Yeah I'm fine. You are getting better amiga."

Kitty looked up, finally seeing the crowd that had gathered… her eyes resting on four very familiar children. The kids stared back, and in an instant they all ran up to her.

"MOM."

Kitty grabbed them all in one big hug. "I missed you all so much" she said, letting her tears run free once again. Letting them go she took a good look at them all.

Amelia stood as the tallest of her children, the young girl still wearing her blonde hair cut short. She was dressed in a pair of usual blue jeans, the jeans a tad ruffled, as if she had been using them all day to play in. her shirt were a basic black tee, nothing out of the ordinary.

Mulan looked more like a small Yuri than ever before, dressed in a white dress with laces and a matching black belt around her midsection. Her hair had grown a few inches since last time Kitty saw her, framing her face to perfection.

Tim was dressed in a pair of grey pants and a blue and white striped pique. And finally Chang… her little baby had grown up as the second tallest child, Amelia beating him with no more than 3 inches.

He was wearing a black cap and a no sleeved basket ball shirt with the logo of the cougars on it. He wore a pair of white shorts and looked like he was the one who used the basket ball court the most. Kitty smiled and looked at them before hugging them again.

"I am so sorry I disappeared" she said. "I have been thinking about you every day… have Auntie Yuri been taking good care of you?"

"Yeah" Amelia said with a sniff. "She's been awesome."

"That's good to hear" Kitty said sniffing. She looked up at Yuri. "Thank you… for taking care of them."

"Well it wasn't like I would turn them away mon petite… now please do come inside, dinner is almost ready."

Kitty smiled. "Might it be ok if I stole your shower for a while first? I must stink right about now."

"Very well… you still know where it is I hope."

"Of course Yuri."

"Very well… I shall find some fresh clothes for you when you are finished."

"Thank you…. No skirts and nothing pink."

Yuri smiled. "Of course cheri… same procedure as always."

Kitty smiled and kissed her children on the head one at the time, making sure that this was not all a dream. She started walking but stopped in front of a mirror.

"Right" she muttered looking at her reflection. Then without even batting an eyelash she drew a dagger and held her hair in place, cutting off her ponytail in one swipe. Going outside again she located the nearby trash bin and threw away the blonde hair there.

"Much better… at least until I can get to a hair dresser. Now then, shower."

And with that she placed her dagger back in place and walked past her friends again towards the showers.

"Yeah" Phillipe said with a nod. "That's Auntie Kitty all right."

A week after Kitty's return, things were settling into a normal schedule. The dragons often went out, letting someone know that they would be back by dinner, and in the meantime Kitty tried her best to help out. But then one day Olivia walked up to her and asked for a word in private. Following Olivia out of the main room and into Kitty's own bedroom, Kitty turned to Olivia curiously.

"Kitty we are leaving tomorrow."

"All right, where are we going?"

"No you don't get it… the dragons are leaving tomorrow. You are staying here with your friends."

Kitty frowned, and Olivia sighed. "Look I know things have changed… but you are better off here with your family."

"Yeah I know but… you are a part of my family too."

Olivia smiled. "It's nice of you to think like that Kitty, and in the end the dragons and the coopers are now allied. There is one thing we never taught you at that oil rig… there is a term called honor amongst thieves. Thieves often can band together in order to achieve a greater goal. The dragons will never be far away Kitty; you only need to call for us."

Olivia gave Kitty a small card. "Why don't you keep that for now Kitty… and we will say our goodbyes in the morning."

True to their word the dragons collected every one of their new friends together the next day.

Rose spoke up first. "We can't thank you enough for what you have all done… our lives and our freedom were acquired once again because of the Cooper gang, and we can never repay the debt… but we can try."

Olivia smiled and stood up turning to Sly. "I dug around a little for you… there seems to be an inmate at the Heathrow Prison named McSweeney who is looking for the current keeper of the Cooper cane… I looked him up, apparently he's a friend of your fathers. I don't know why he is trying to contact you, but it is worth trying to find out I think."

"Also…" Olivia pulled out a blueprint giving it to Bentley. "The blueprints for Kitty's hand… odds are she'll be needing a new one every once and again, she keeps breaking it."

"Sad but true" Kitty said shrugging.

Audrey laughed speaking up herself. "The Female fatale dragons owe you a great debt… if you ever need us we will honor the thief laws and come to your aid."

Carmelita frowned. "Thieves have laws?"

"Only the one" Montana said. "The honor amongst thieves, which says that if one thief helps another, that thief must repay that debt if required… to not do so is despicable, even by thieving standards."

Trish nodded. "Kind of like with me and Zuikawa."

Olivia looked at her curious. "Zuikawa? That wouldn't by any chance be Zuikawa Keiko?"

"Yes as a matter of fact… we had a small incident a few years back and I ended up helping her with getting her father locked up. When Keiko herself was released from jail on good behavior she went to me and said that for as long as I wanted she'd do whatever I asked of her. She now works as an ally for the gang, but stays somewhere else as to not pay any unwanted attention to who she works with."

Olivia smiled. "Yes that does sound like her all right… when you see her, say hello to her from me, we are old acquaintances."

"Will do Olivia."

"Thank you. And now we bid you farewell Cooper gang… but before we do we would like to ask one thing."

"Name it" Carmelita said without a pause.

"We trained Kitty for two years, she knows everything we know even if she hasn't shown you all yet… she would probably never ask you this herself, but if you ever find yourself out on a heist, take her with you… she will be of great assistance."

Sly smiled. "We were planning on asking her to join as a matter of fact… she needs something to do now that she is technically dead and getting a real job would be hard without any papers."

Kitty smiled and blushed, deciding not to say anything. The dragons said their goodbyes, Kitty starting to cry as they all hugged each other, before they left, out the gates of Yuri's estate, and finally around a corner.

Kitty sniffed gently. "I'll miss them" she said, smiling as Yuri lay a hand on her shoulder.

"I know cheri… but never fear, they are not gone for good I should think."

"Yeah I suppose."

Yuri smiled. "Now then, since you now technically are a part of the field crew of the cooper gang… you need a uniform."

Kitty chuckled. "It's always about the clothes with you isn't it? All right, I yield, I am all yours Yuri."

"Excellent cheri, now come, we must discuss what you want."

Sly smiled as Kitty was led through the door to Yuri's dining room for some privacy, before he turned to Carmelita and Bentley.

"All right this might sound crazy… but what's the best way to break into a prison?"

"Madre y dios" Carmen muttered, Trish and Uma laughing. "Can you wait about talking about this until we have left? This is not something I think we should want to hear?"

"Oh I don't know" Trish said with a mischievous grin. "If nothing else we can find out how to keep the ones we want to stay inside… you know inside."

"I have to agree with Carmen on this" Uma said. "We can only stretch the law so far. Come on kids, we are leaving, say good bye to your aunts and uncles."

As everyone else left and only Sly, Carmelita and Bentley were in the room Carmelita frowned and spoke.

"Well Heathrow isn't the strongest jail there is, low defenses, and the guards posted there have always been new recruits… your main problem is the inmates."

"And why is that exactly?"

Carmelita laughed a hollow laugh. "Most of the crooks I have busted up through the years have landed in Heathrow… and most of them are there because you led me there. On the top of my hat I can name Mz Ruby, Muggshot and Raleigh, if Muggshot hasn't broken out again, he has a tendency to do that every now and again."

Bentley groaned. "In other words, the prison is full of inmates who know Sly by his face and will rat him out and call the guards the moment they see him… could he pose as a guard?"

"I suppose so… the guards change so often that a new face wouldn't be looked strange upon."

"Very well" Sly said smiling. "Then I will leave, by the time I reach Heathrow it will probably be dark already, I will call you the moment I have news."


	8. The Cooper vault

Chapter 8

The Cooper Vault

When Sly came back he looked like he had been possessed.

"So" Kitty said from where she sat, drawing away on a paper to design her outfit as she wanted.

"How was the trip to Heathrow?"

Informative" Sly said sighing.

"All right Sly, we are listening."

"McSweeney… he was the brawns in my father's crew… and he told me about a secret of the Coopers… a vault… a vault that contains all the treasures my ancestors gathered together through the years."

Everyone looked up at this piece of information. Kitty was the first who spoke.

"I am thinking about your ancestry… The coopers have existed for ages… old ancient Egypt, feudal japan, medieval England, wild west America… if each and every one of your ancestors stored their loots in that vault… you are so seriously filthy rich… you would be trice as rich as Yuri if not more."

Sly nodded. "Yeah… not to mention all the sentimental value we can find down there… so we all up for this?"

"Ready to go after the cooper vault? Count me in" Kitty said with a smile. "Just let Yuri finish my outfit first, this should be official."

"No need to jump the wagon yet Kitty… there is a small detour we need to make first."

Sly smiled and told everyone that McSweeney had hidden the map of the location of the vault in a small museum in a small Italian town.

"All right… so the wisest thing to do is to let you and Carmelita go to Italy" Kitty said speaking up. "No need to bring everyone there, our group would probably be noticed fairly quickly and tip off the local police… we want to avoid that right?"

"Right you are… so Bentley, Carmelita and I need a pair of plane tickets to Italy, as fast as you can."

"No Problem Sly, I'll get right to it."

One week later Carmelita and Sly returned, this time to Le hotel Champlain. Sly was carrying a piece of parchment pointing to a small Island. Bentley nodded, seeing the coordinates.

"Very well then, let's go."

"Wait a minute" Kitty said frowning. Her eye was flashing up at the map, giving her information about the island in question.

"Oh that's not good" she muttered.

"What isn't good?" Carmelita asked with a frown.

Kitty sighed. "This is going to sound very strange… but one of the things that Olivia did to me to help with the training was to install a very thin eye contact into my eye. It flashes and feeds me with information all the time, and while sometimes annoying it comes in handy from time to time… that Island there is owned by a mandrill who named himself Dr M… he has a record sheet… and nothing I am getting is good."

"What do you mean?"

"Well this is merely a guess… but if McSweeney were the brawns of the previous Cooper clan, I think it's a fair bet that this Dr. M was the brains… if McSweeney knew about the vault, so did Dr. M, and he probably is trying to get himself into the vault… I am getting tons of purchase info in front of me, robotics, electrical charges, bombs, lasers… not to mention any henchmen he might have. Do we have any chance of getting a satellite picture or something from your computer Bentley?"

"Well yeah…" Bentley stopped, about to ask what Kitty was thinking, when he apparently realized it.

He rushed over to his laptop and booted it up. Kitty quickly gave him the right coordinates and watched as they suddenly got an overview of the island in question.

Bentley whistled.

"That bad huh?" Carmelita asked.

"He has electrified the waters… have the sky covered with weapons, henchmen… am I forgetting something?"

"Loads" Kitty said honestly. "This place is locked up tighter than Fort Knox… we need more people to pull off this."

"I agree with Kitty" Bentley said.

"All right… can we do that?" Carmelita asked.

"Sure. Honor amongst thieves remember, we scratch someone's back and they scratch ours. So where do we start?" Kitty asked.

"Simple" Sly said. "We get back Murray and Naomi."

"Now we are talking" Kitty said grinning. "So Australia next?"

"No" Bentley said. "I have had a close eye on Murray and Naomi, without interrupting them of course… last I heard they were in Venice."

"Venice? What in the world are they doing in Venice?" Carmelita asked.

"Well their guru apparently sends them to meditate to places of the world where the earth is suffering or something like that… their newest mission is Venice."

"All right" Kitty said smiling. "Yuri said that she was almost finished with my outfit… so when are we leaving for Venice?"

"As fast as we can… but there is one more thing I'd like to do before we leave." Bentley reached up for a phone, and dialed a number.

"Hi, the gang needs your assistance… can you be at the hotel in half an hour? Great, see you then."

Bentley hung up, looking at the satellite picture in front of him.

"Right… you guys go and do something… I need to think."

"Eh I need to burn off some nervous energy anyways… anyone here up for a spar?"

Carmelita looked over at Kitty. "I never thought I'd see the day when you'd train off your own free will."

"Is that a yes or a no to training?"

"All right, all right, let me get my canes and I'll be right with you."

Half an hour later Carmelita groaned.

"How in the world is this a spar Kitty?"

"Simple" Kitty said, slightly jumping to be ready for anything.

"I am holding back."

Kitty turned as she heard a sound, and saw an ebony black Mercedes Benz. The car stopped and a very familiar jaguar stepped out of it.

"Keiko Zuikawa" Kitty muttered. Keiko looked over at both vixens, one resting on the ground, the other not even looking tired.

"Konichiwa Carmelita san, how is your day going?"

"It's being pretty eventful" Carmelita said smiling. "Keiko, this is Kitty Petro… I think Trish told you the details about her case."

"Yes indeed" Keiko said turning to Kitty. "You have been training with Olivia senpai as I have heard."

"Hai" Kitty said, bowing politely.

"Olivia and I were nakama back in the day, I was horrified to learn of what had transpired… but happy to know that she finally got loose from her infernal prison."

"Speaking of wich, how was your time inside?" Kitty asked.

"Oh it wasn't too bad… dreadfully boring yes, but I kept my head low and behaved and got out early on good behavior. The wonders of the system neh?"

Kitty laughed.

"So… Bentley san has asked for me, so I'll be going to him now… but later Petro san I'd like to see exactly what you have learned from your training with Olivia."

"Nothing would please me more Keiko san."

Keiko smiled and she returned the bow Kitty gave her, before walking inside the Cooper gang hideout.

"Konichiwa Bentley san, how are your day faring?"

"Much better now that you are here" Bentley said honestly, smiling at Keiko.

"I have a small task for you."

"I am listening."

Bentley handed her the map of the vault. "This island contains a treasure beyond anything you have ever seen… and it belongs to Sly. A man who may or may not have known Sly's father have taken over the island… so far the satellite pictures we have gotten from that area have told us a lot, but I'd like to have someone actually go near the island and see what we can't see from the satellite."

"Say no more" Keiko said smiling. "It's been a while since I traveled abroad anyways; it might be a nice change of pace."

"Thank you Keiko, we appreciate it."

"You are most welcome Bentley san… now is that everything?"

"Yes I suppose… the main gang is going to Venice by the end of the week so send everything you get to Yuri."

"Not a problem. Now then Bentley san, it was nice seeing you again… but now I think I should go and get acquainted with this Kitty Petro friend of yours."

Keiko smiled and walked out the door, gently taking off her outer robes, standing in only a battle kimono.

"Martial arts only Petro san… I think that's fair, don't you?"

"As you say" Kitty said, bowing gently, and then taking a stand.

Carmelita, Sly and Bentley who had decided to watch from the sidelines were impressed. Keiko and Kitty read each other perfectly, and seemed to know just wich move the other would do the moment the other attacked. Kicks were blocked, punches avoided and movement speed were so fast that Carmelita for a moment wondered if she was watching a videogame.

"Stop." Keiko called out and Kitty stopped, a fist dangerously close to the Japanese jaguar's face.

"Not bad Petro san, Olivia has trained you well. Now I must say sayonara, but I hope that when this heist is finished we will have the time to get know each other a lot better."

"I would enjoy that Zuikawa san."

Keiko smiled and got her cloak again, walking towards her car.

"Good luck in your endeavors Petro san… may we meet again."


	9. Venice

Chapter 9

Venice

Finally one day all the preparations were complete. Getting a few disguises the Cooper gang suddenly sat on a plane headed to Venice Italy.

"All right I feel like I need to ask" Kitty said. "You said that Murray and Naomi were meditating in Venice? Meditating for what? Nature wise the nature is winning over the city; in fact one of Venice greatest problems is that it is kind of sinking inch by inch every single year."

"I have looked into it" Bentley said, making sure that nobody heard them. "It seems like someone is releasing tar through the water filters."

"Someone?" Carmelita huffed. "Don't you mean the phantom of the opera wannabe Don Octavio?"

"Who now?" Kitty asked.

"The king of Venice mafia operations" Sly said. "He used to be a well known opera singer who fell from his height once the younger audience stopped listening to his kind of music. The few fans he had left were… well mobsters and let him into the family. He more or less owns the city now; it's his people that roam the streets making sure that nobody comes close to him or his operations."

"But… what would an old opera singer want by destroying the water supplies with tar?"

Sly shook his head. "I do not know… but I think that in time we will find out."

"Dear passangers, we will arrive in Venice in 15 minutes, please buckle your seat belts and raise your chairs to a sitting position. It is currently 18:45 local time and the weather is sunny. I hope you have all had a pleasant flight and that you will join Airitalia once again."

"Well guys… seems like this is it… let's go get back Naomi and Murray shall we?"

Once at the airport Bentley looked at the others. "I have arranged a safe house for us. It's a little too close to the local police department than I like but it's all I could manage in such short time."

"No worries Bentley, we can handle the cops." Sly said.

"Speaking of cops, now that neither me nor… Ling is out to get you, who did chief Rob put on the case?"

"Chief Rob retired on the spot the day your hand was found. It was too much for him to handle" Carmelita said. "The new chief placed a woman named Jacqueline Robeau on our case… I think you'd like her, you try to say anything to her and she blows up like fireworks on the 4th of July."

"Kind of like how you used to be then… and what species is she?"

"She's a Jackal."

"A jackal named Jacqueline… wow inspiration really is dead."

Finally finding the hideout, everyone went to change into their combat gears.

"Hey guys, what do you think?"

Everyone looked up as Kitty came out. Her outfit was pretty basic. The basic ensemble contained a pair of pants that allowed her free movement should she need to fight with martial arts, a long sleeved shirt with the hem of the arms wide, although not nearly as wide as a kimono's arms. Also on her face, a porcelain mask that covered the top half of her face.

The color theme of her clothes was a dark grey, almost black, her mask being a pure white and just by the look of it everyone knew that in the darkness Kitty would be more or less invisible.

Tied to her pants with a black belt with a basic silver buckle was a pair of tonfa's resting at each thigh. Over her shoulder sat her usual thief blades, hanging in a similar fashion to Carmelita's own twin canes. Kitty smiled at them, adding a pair of black leather fingerless gloves over her hands.

"Not bad Kitty… but what's up with the mask?"

"Well a basic mask to cover my eyes won't help covering my scars… but by expanding the mask to cover most of my forehead and my cheeks, it might help a little."

"I see… and what about that?" Carmelita pointed to a small white G, done up in white stitching over Kitty's heart.

"Ghost" Kitty said smiling. "My new alias, I thought it fitting. Now how about we go out there and get our friends back?"

"Soon" Bentley said. "But there is one final thing we need to do. He picked up a small box, tied together with string. Welcome to the inner parts of the clan Kitty."

Kitty frowned, untying the knot and opening the box. She blinked in shock at the inside.

"A binocucum? You got me a personal binocucum?"

"Well we couldn't let you go out there without one. Now we are ready, I'll stay back here and get everything set up… in the meantime I got a small mission for you. Murray is still wanted, and something tells me that if nothing else we will find clues of his and Naomi's whereabouts at the local police department."

Kitty smiled. "So first Sly breaks into a jail and now we are breaking into Police HQ? Someone might think that you secretly want to be arrested."

Carmelita opened the door with a huff. "Very funny Kitty, now be on guard, the police here isn't the trouble, it's all the Don's henchmen that patrols the area."

"Noted" Kitty said. "Now let's go and break into police HQ."

Kitty, Sly and Carmelita stood a while away from the local police HQ looking up at the structure.

"Anyone got any ideas on how we are supposed to get into that?" Sly asked.

"Actually… I think I do" Kitty said, shaking her head.

"Oh, and what were you thinking Kitty?"

Kitty smiled, but ran out on the canal on top of a small Venetian river boat, over a pillar and then held onto a rope. The rope Sly suddenly saw, were connected to the top of the dome… and the dome itself had a small entrance just big enough to crawl through.

"Unbelievable" Carmelita said shaking her head. "They always forget to look up don't they?"

Sly laughed, and then ran after Kitty who was halfway up the rope already.

"What tok you so long?" Kitty asked laughingly crouching by the small entry.

"Just go inside, the ventilation system should bring us straight to where we want to be."

SLYCOOPER

Finally getting through the final push in the ventilation system, Kitty, Carmelita and Murray landed in a small room.

"All right," Sly said whispering. "Let's look around for Murray."

"Murray? That name is a stain on my pants bro."

Carmelita and Sly's eyes widened.

"That voice" Carmelita said shocked.

"It's can't be" Sly said shocked, both turning around to look to the lizard staring back at them.

"Cooper? You've got some fuzzy dice coming around here."

Kitty blinked. That was the strangest accent she had ever heard.

Sly spoke up shocked. "Dimitri? Long time no punch… I see that you are still in jail."

Dimitri scowled. "And you're still a craker box."

"Wait a minute" Kitty said, suddenly realizing something. "That's Dimitri? Of the Klaww gang Dimitri?"

"Same one" Carmelita said scowling. "Still wearing the same outfit as the day he got busted too."

"Hey no insulting the greasy sweet suit fuzzy" Dimitri said scowling.

Sly held up his arms. "All right, let's get past the name callings and get down to business."

Dimitri's scowl was triumphant. "Looking for main man Murray ey? Sorry, but I'd rather see you get busted big time. GUARDS, POLIZIA."

"No wait" Sly said, throwing his hands up in the air, Kitty looking out for danger.

"If those cops get their mitts on us, who is going to break you out of jail?"

Kitty acted quickly and lay a hand over Carmelita's mouth as she tried to protest.

"We scratch his back, he scratches ours, remember."

Carmelita scowled but nodded her head, letting Kitty know that she understood. Dimitri looked at Sly, a strange serious look on his face.

"You might get this cell door open, but the cops would throw down and bust me on the way out, and then I'll get's the double sentence, GRIEF."

"He's right" Kitty said… "the cops won't just let him out of her…" Kitty stopped as she noted Sly's confident look.

"How about we get the cop's attention then run for it? Once they are all outside shooting at us, you can slip out no problem."

Carmelita sighed. "I hate it when he does that she muttered."

"Do what?"

"Offer us up as bait to let someone else get away."

Dimitri smiled wide. "Now that is a plan I can get behind. Dimitri is free and Cooper is cooked. Key for the cell is in head cop lady's office. Get me out of here and I'll find Murray, no sweat. Just keep on the down low and out of sight near them coppers bro, their bad bunch of bunnies."

"Head cop la… oh you have got to be shitting me." Carmelita had just looked at the way Dimitri was pointing, and Kitty saw a Jackal woman on a stand talking to a bunch of gorilla's with a power point presentation.

"Don't tell me" Kitty said, already knowing the answer as her lenses gave her the information and the name of one Jacqueline Robeau.

"Small world" Sly said. "Now I'll crawl over to the office, you guys stay here."

And off he went. Carmelita's eyes never left Jacqueline's presentation, her old police self dragging in all the information she could get.

Kitty turned to Dimitri, and decided to talk. She switched over to French, making sure that Carmelita did not hear them.

"You were with the Klaww gang?"

"Oui… a long time ago."

"I had the… unfortunate pleasure of meeting Neyla recently."

"Crazy Kit Cat lives?"

"Yeah… what was it like working with her?"

"Kit Cat stayed with beaky brain Arpeggio, I only saw Kit Cat one or two times when the gang did a joint heist… But she had… a way of being… there was always something in her eyes that I never liked."

Kitty nodded, knowing what he meant. "Did she let you out of jail after you got caught in Paris?"

"I don't know. One minute I was in the joint, the next my cell door opened and all the guards were incapacitated… I ran and fled with a cruise ship, teaching the old people to groove with style… like moi."

Kitty smiled. She liked Dimitri, he was kind of funny in his own strange way. She looked up suddenly as the lights turned on. Looking over she saw that Carmelita had inched away into a position where she could see out on what was happening. As soon as the lights turned on they turned off again, and Kitty heard Jacqueline's tired voice.

"Hold on guys, the power's on the fritz again, it will calm down in a few minutes."

Kitty looked at Sly who took the moment of the power outtake to crawl under a desk. The lamps blitzed and Sly lay still, not moving a muscle until the lights turned off again. Finally he was back in the cell room with the others.

"Well that was close" he said with a small laugh. Sly used the key and unlocked one of the two locks on the cage. The other was a standard code lock, Dimitri looking at it uncertain.

"Can you really crack this coconut?"

Sly smiled. "Sure, just takes a light touch."

Kitty had to admit that she was impressed. She had learned from Rose how to open locks such as this but she usually took a lot more time to get them open than Sly did. The door opened and Dimitri walked out, a large smile on his face.

"Now we'll do as promised and distract the cops so you can make your escape."

"Solid. Don't worry no mind, straight way I'll pass word for Murray and his new friend to find you. Meet at Rialto Bridge, BIG Italian landmark."

Sly nodded. "OK, guess its show time."

Kitty smiled. "Hey do you guys mind if I let you do this alone, I'd rather stay back and see exactly who this Jacqueline is and how good she is from a safe distance."

"No problem Kitty, leave everything to us."

And with that Sly and Carmelita jumped out to call out to the cops present, Carmelita's voice booming.

"Hello assorted meatheads."

Sly smiled, ever the gentleman. "And lady. Anyone feel like some exercise?"

Jacqueline blinked, but reacted almost immediately. "The Cooper gang? Grab them men."

"And exit stage left" Carmelita said as she and Sly opened the door and ran out. A while later everyone followed.

"The coast is clear Dimitri" Kitty said, Dimitri running out in front of her.

"Thank you smiley, hope to see you again."

Kitty followed Dimitri out, stopping right outside the door to see Jacqueline aiming her shock pistol at Sly and Carmelita who were standing just so far away that they could dodge if she tried anything.

"You two got some serious nerve to break into the local police HQ."

Sly smiled at her. "We were concerned. It has been… what almost a month since last we saw each other, we thought you'd forgotten about us."

"Oh as if I could ever forget" Jacqueline growled at them. "You two make me sick. What right do you have to try and go after other criminals… in fact Carmelita used to have the right and what the hell did you do? You joined up with a criminal."

"I did" Carmelita said with a nod. "Because the force and the system isn't working. Criminals get lose on technicalities and lack of evidence… how many times have I managed to get someone behind bars… no better yet, how many times have you managed to get someone behind bars because of evidence we gathered for you?"

"YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW… You are just as bad as the people you go after."

Carmelita sighed. "Man this one has a one track mind."

"Reminds me of someone else I know" Sly said, Carmelita hitting him over the head half heartedly. Then they both ducked as Jacqueline fired a shoot that sailed over their heads.

"So forward" Sly said with a grin. "What happened to the demure girl we used to know?"

"She grew up and stopped taking grief from people like you."

"People like us? Are you saying we have some competition for your affections?"

You are the only ones in my sight right now. And with that Sly and Carmelita ran, Jacqueline running after them.

Kitty laughed. Man this one was a piece of work all right, almost like Carmelita, but with two thieves to go after and an even shorter fuse than Carmelita's. This would be fun. Kitty followed the drama unseen from the rooftops, smiling as she saw Murray arrive by a manhole, Sly and Carmelita jumping down it, Murray following them, Jacqueline yelling after them at the ground.

"THAT'S RIGHT, HIDE IN THE SEWER LIKE THE RATS YOU ARE."

Kitty couldn't take it anymore. She laughed. Laughed high, loud and clear, stopping only as she felt a blast of a shock pistol wiz across her cheek.

"Hey now, that's not very nice" she said, turning to the Jackal below her.

"Who are you?"

Kitty frowned at her. "You know, the term shoot first and ask questions later don't really work like that."

She ducked under another blast. "Is that how Interpol works now? They fire their guns at every citizen who laugh at a funny situation?"

"What is your name criminal?"

"Criminal? What makes you think I'm a criminal?"

"The mask and the weapons was my first hint."

Kitty smiled. "Sorry to disappoint you Officer, but I'm not a criminal. My face is heavily scarred after a long time under torture from someone who is long gone. I'd rather have a mask than show my scarred face to everyone who is looking. As for my weapons, last I checked this was not the best neighborhood and I have a right to defend myself."

"And your name?"

"You may call me Ghost."

"That's not a name, that's an alias."

"Why yes… yes it is. But it's the only name you will get. Now I have told you my name… may I have yours?"

"Inspector Jacqueline Robeau… Interpol CID Paris division."

"Paris? A little far from home aren't we?"

"I go where my chief tells me to go… and right now he needs me here in Venice… where I have the pleasure of taking down all suspicious people."

"And by suspicious you mean?"

"Everyone in a mask who refuses to cooperate."

"You do of course know that we are in Venice during carnival season? You got your work cut out for you."

Kitty looked down at the manhole where the Coopers had run.

"Tell me… what are your opinions of your predecessors?"

"The former cops on the Cooper case? Not much to say… one was a softie who killed himself the moment his wife were gone… the other one… well I don't like talking bad about the dead but after what I have heard this Petro woman had a finger in everything and in everyone's business… wouldn't surprise me a moment if she was a rotten apple."

"Oh Lieutenant Petro could bend the rules yes… but she always did what she thought was best for society at large."

"You knew Kitty Petro?"

"That I did… in a way you could say that nobody knew her better than me."

Kitty smiled and rose. "Now then, I have wasted enough of your time Inspector, have fun chasing the shadows."

And before Jacqueline got a chance to react Kitty was gone, leaving no trace behind as to where she had disappeared of too.

Kitty found her way back to the safe house, frowning as she saw Carmelita and Sly looking worried.

"Hi guys… what's up?"

"This will be a tad trickier than we thought" Bentley said simply.

"OK… what for?"

"Well we told Naomi and Murray about you… and your story… Naomi didn't believe us… or maybe she did but is reacting bad to it… the point of the matter is that Naomi and Murray both told us that no matter the circumstance they promised their Guru to stay and meditate in Venice until, and I quote 'the black water run's pure' unquote. Also from what Carmelita gathered from Jacqueline's presentation in the squad room it's very obvious that Don Octavio has something to do with it… so we have no choice but to go after him."

"All right" Kitty said nodding. "Where do we start?"

"We need to break into Don Octavio's opera house first off all, to get any Intel we can get our hands on. If he is hiding anything, we will find it. We should also keep a close eye on the Don himself; take some pictures to use as evidence against him. In the meanwhile I'll start hacking the local radio frequencies; we might get some valuable Intel."

"Sounds like a plan… you guys start with the breaking and entering… I'll find Naomi and have a little chat."

"And how do you plan to find her?" Carmelita asked.

"You just met her at the Rialto bridge right? She can't have gone too far in the time since then and given that she is to meditate… well there are a few selected places in Venice that's better to meditate from than others… now you guys have fun, call me if you find anything interesting or if you need me and I'll do the same for you."

Kitty smiled and left, finding her way up to the roof of the hideout. She rested a while, letting her eyes do their job and found what she was looking for. She smiled and jumped from the roof onto a rope, and followed it over a few more rooftops.

Finally she found what she was looking for… Naomi and Murray sat side by side on a nearby rooftop, looking out towards the nearby canal, sitting so still that some of the local birds had taken residence on their shoulders and heads. Kitty smiled and walked over to them, the birds flying off, making Naomi open her eyes, wondering what was happening.

"Morning guys… long time no see."

Naomi and Murray turned around, Kitty taking off her mask looking at them. She smiled in wonder at Naomi.

She too had done as Yuri and cut her hair… although Yuri's hair still held a bit of length, Naomi's current pixie cut almost made Kitty's hair look long. Both she and Murray were dressed thinly, and their bodies and faces painted in white body paint.

"Dreamtime right?"

Kitty asked, her eyes scanning for all the info on the aboriginal form. Naomi just gaped at her, before she rose and ran over to Kitty, quick, even for a cheetah. Just like Yuri had she clasped onto Kitty's cheeks, tracing her fingers all over Kitty's face, as if to make completely sure that she wasn't seeing things. And as everyone else had, her fingers stopped at Kitty's long diagonal scar, going across her face.

She swallowed gently, and then turned to Kitty. "In the very first year that Kitty Petro had come to know us, Madame persuaded her to join in on a fashion show… by the end of the show what did Kitty get for it?"

"Yuri gave me her Lamborghini to have for a week… you should know, you drove home with me that same night… it was also the night that spawned the four current Sing children, Celeste, Austin, Belinda and Phillipe. Anymore questions Naomi or do I have to sing for you to make you realize who I am?"

Naomi didn't need any more of an invitation, and hugged Kitty crying. Kitty smiled and hugged her back.

"I missed you Naomi."

"And I missed you cheri… life really is to quiet without you around."

"Yeah so I've heard… but seriously though you didn't have to go all hippie just because I wasn't around anymore… although I got to admit I do approve of the pixie cut."

Kitty turned away from Naomi to Murray. "Hi there big guy, you are looking good, as always."

Murray smiled and hugged Kitty. "Kitty… it's been too long."

"Yeah I know no need to tell me. Now I thought I should go and say hi… and to tell you that the cooper gang is on the case helping with the Venetian tar problem… now I should go, to long staying in one place might draw the attention of unwanted company. I'll see you guys around."

And with that Kitty left, leaving the two others behind. Walking in the direction of the safe house she suddenly stopped, seeing something. She raised her binocucum up to her face.

"Hey Bent… I just found the Don himself and he is acting pretty suspicious… want me to follow him."

"Yeah Kitty that would be gr… hey what's up with those green lights in your binocucum?"

Kitty blinked surprised. "You can see them?"

"Yes… now what in the world is it?"

"Oh it's just my lenses; they do that all the time… I don't know why you can see it though… might be worth checking out later… wops there he goes, I'll get back to you Bentley."

Kitty followed the Don, always being outside his range of vision until they came to a large fountain. Kitty downright scowled as suddenly the Don turned a wheel and filled the beautiful fountain full of tar.

"OK that's just despicable" she growled, taking up her binocucum to take a photo.

Octavio stopped before he walked off again. Kitty had to smile as he started doing vocal exercises as he walked down the street. Typical musician she thought, following him silently, taking care to not get spotted by the many goons walking across the rooftops as security intel.

Resting on the top of a nearby flagpole she tok out her binocucum… a birdbath? What the hell was wrong with this lion? She made a small mental note to come back later on to clean that birdbath… shouldn't take too long and the poor birds of Venice deserved better.

Following the old Lion through the town, he suddenly disappeared behind a wall. Kitty jumped down in a Venetian river boat, trying to not look suspicious as she once again found the man, the waterwheel next to him filled with tar.

One final time Kitty followed him through the streets of Venice, finding him turning yet another wheel. She took his picture, but could not see were the tar was pumped… at least not until her boat disappeared from Octavio's field of vision and out onto an open space…

"Bentley… this guy just filled an aquarium full of tar… can I punch him?"

"He did what? No, not yet, he will get his dues… man look at all those poor fishes… keep following him Kitty, you are doing great."

Kitty followed once again, seeing the lion jump onto a local Ferris wheel.

"Yeah it's me. Get that engineer on the horn."

Kitty didn't even stop to think. She rushed over and hung onto the Ferris wheel listening in on the conversation.

"Listen Giovanni, this Ferris wheel was a good idea. She's a pumping the tar fast and nobody, but nobody suspects a thing. But still, is it going to be enough to get things ready for my opera recital? Bella, when the people come to see me sing I wanna make a sure they keepa coming, even if they don't like it. One way or the other they will be opera fans once again. Hehe… ok see you soon."

The Don disappeared and Kitty landed back on the ground. "Bentley did you get that?"

"Yeah I did."

"OK can I smash this thing?"

"Feel free Kitty."

Kitty grinned. She landed down at the control box, busting it open. Both Olivia and Audrey's hijacking training started coming into gear as Kitty switched a few wires.

The Ferris wheel spun faster and faster until it disappeared off its hinges, crushing into a couple of nearby thugs. Kitty smiled. That was fun Kitty thought to herself as she disappeared from view the moment the nearby thugs ran to see what was going on.

"All right Bent, I'm finished here, I'm heading back to the safe house."


	10. Closer to the plot

Chapter 10

Closer to the plot

Kitty came back and rested her eyes for a while until the other three returned, looking pretty shaken up.

"Old dinosaur of a computer you said" Carmelita growled at Bentley. "No problem you said… why I ought to."

"Calm down quera we got out of there didn't we?" Sly smiled and kissed Carmelita who looked calmer.

"Fine… forgiven… but not forgotten."

Bentley went over to sit in front of his laptop.

"I got the information in the end didn't I?"

"Sure, and Sly and I only had to fight off twenty plus goons who were trying to stop you."

Kitty laughed gently. "Just like old times she said smiling. I have missed this." Bentley turned to her.

"Yeah well…some new things are happening as well… may I ask about those lenses of yours?"

"All right, but I probably can't answer, all I know is that they feed me info and if I try to take them out I will go blind."

Bentley frowned, but walked up to her. "Could you do me a favor and look at me?" Kitty did, barely blinking, as Bentley looked at her.

"Interesting… I think I can see a small computer screen over your pupils… fascinating."

"Yeah yea, not to sound rude here Bent but can we do this after we have taken down the Italian opera fanatic idiot who keeps filling up the city with tar?"

"Right, right, of course." Bentley sat down, putting on his earphones. "I am just going to adjust the frequency and then we can listen in on all their co…"

Bentley stopped, listening in on something. He then turned to the others. "Big trouble, apparently Inspector Robeau is poking into something Octavio don't want her poking into. He just hired the blue viper gang to take her down in her daily rounds."

Kitty gaped and Sly spoke up. "The blue vipers? Those guys are nothing but trouble we got to do something."

"No need to think Sly" Kitty said dragging him out. "There was a police canal boat down by the station, I'll hijack and drive, you shoot them down, come on, we don't have much time."

Kitty and Sly ran, Kitty leading them to the docks, ducking as Inspector Robeau sailed past them in a small gondola.

"The thugs can't be far behind" she muttered, sitting down in the driver seat. "Now then lets see, a basic blue and red wire crossing, nothing to it… you ok there Sly?"

"Yeah I got things covered."

"Try not to overheat the gun, it's a standard police thing, mostly junk."

Kitty started the engine, just as three boats ran past them.

"There they go" Kitty said. "Let's take them down."

Kitty roared the engine, and after the gang they went.

Kitty yelped a while later, turning to Sly who was gunning down the first of the vipers as she navigated the small canal.

"Sly, if I ever complain about traffic and terrible parking in Paris ever again, feel free to remind me of this moment."

"No problem" Sly said, gunning down the second one. "Now then, only one to go."

Once again Sly fired off a bunch of shots from the boat's pistol, he and Kitty laughing in triumph as the last boat in front of them exploded, sending the viper in it swimming in the Venetian canal. Kitty calmed the engine down and turned the boat back to the police HQ.

"I'll go and place this someplace in storage" Sly said as Kitty jumped off.

"Yeah good idea, we might have use for it later on… Hey Sly, you do of course realize that we aren't winning any points with the good officer just because we saved her life."

"I know" Sly said. "But it needed to be done."

Kitty smiled. "Hurry along now, she might be back at any moment."

True enough, the moment Sly had gotten the boat around the corner, the inspector herself returned, stopping the engine as she saw Kitty.

"Had a nice patrol?" Kitty asked sociable.

"An uneventful one… this city is pretty and all, but way to quiet."

Kitty grinned. "I got something for you."

Kitty held out a map, filled with the photo's she had taken. For some reason the green lines from her contacts were nowhere to be seen.

Jacqueline took the map, looking through it, her scowl disappearing, a look of shock getting there instead.

"How in the world did you get these?"

"I took them… I'd be careful waving those around if I were you; Octavio probably got a few people on the inside. It's not much but it might help in the long run."

Kitty smiled and turned around, stopping as Jacqueline spoke up.

"Who are you Ghost? You help the cops but you dress as a thief… which side are you on?"

Kitty smiled and turned to her. "Get something to write on and with."

"I got a photographic memory, don't need it."

"Very well" Kitty said grinning. "4269… that my dear is who I am… we will speak some more later on… try to stay out of trouble."

Kitty walked off and once again found herself back in the Sly Cooper safe house.

"All right so we have broken into Octavio's hideout, I just gave the pictures I took to Inspector Robeau personally and we stopped a bunch of thugs from shooting her full of bullets… so far I think we are being pretty effective."

"Agreed" Bentley said. "But we still have a lot to do."

"All right… what's next?"

"Well according to the code encrypted files Octavio is pumping tar from underneath the foundations of buildings, so he can sink them into the canal on a whim. He is going to demonstrate this destructive ability to the people of Venice during his opera recital on the first day of Carnival. To counter this we first need to destroy the balloons advertizing the event. If nobody shows up, no demonstration. Next, the blue prints to the main tar vacuum have been cleverly split in 3 parts and are hidden in tea houses owned by Octavio, unfortunately they are guarded by his goons; we need to make them think that we are one of them."

"Mask and talking in an Italian accent? Got that covered" Kitty said.

"You sure I shouldn't to that?" Carmelita asked.

"You could" Kitty agreed. "You look more the part too… just try not to be to stereotypical."

Bentley cleared his throat before Carmelita could answer or argue. "Big Venetian goons have been called in as… insurance for the recital, given their size I think we should fool the mercenaries Inspector Robeau has called in to take care of them. And then there is one more thing… we need to convince either Naomi or Murray to help us in the field… If my research on the dreamtime is correct and one of them has learned the aboriginal ball form… we can use it to take out the local tar reservoirs."

"All right" Carmelita said nodding. "Sound like we have enough to do, and the night isn't getting any younger. Let's do this."

"So wich should we start with?"

"Probably the balloons" Kitty said. "The longer they stay up there the more people will notice it."

"I agree" Sly said.

"All right" Bentley said. "I have managed to acquire everything we need, meet me up in a while later at the corner of the opera."

SLYCOOPER

"I am not sure this is a good idea" Carmelita said.

"It's not" Kitty said. "But it's the only idea we have that will take the least amount of time. I am the one with the smallest fuse, you two have nothing to be afraid of. Just run, don't look back at any thugs who hear you and get to your destination, you'll be fine."

"Your concern is touching" Sly said with a smile.

"All right, are you guys ready?" Bentley asked.

"As ready as we can be with a bomb stuck to our backs" Kitty said honestly.

Behind her, Carmelita tried to sound like she was laughing.

"All right ready… set… GO."

They ran, as fast as they could, Kitty having the smallest route but also the shortest fuse. She got her bomb in place and rushed away from the three goons that followed her as her bomb went off, blowing everyone off their feet. Kitty got up and saw the nearby goons knocked out.

She whistled and ran back to Bentley.

"That explosive had some kick" she said.

"Oh it's nothing compared to the ferocious beast that Sly is carrying."

"Ferocious beast? Really? That's what you are going with?"

"Hush" Bentley said mildly annoyed.

Kitty grinned as another explosion was heard in the distance and a balloon flew off.

"That would be Carmelita… now it's only the sign that Sly has to blow up that's left."

Kitty nodded and turned, looking around, and in an instant her eyes got wide.

"Bentley, close the window and the door, do it now." Bentley turned but did not get a chance to object as Kitty moved for him, jumping through the window to close it, locking the door.

She clasped a hand over Bentley's mouth, her free hand clutching one of her swords.

Carefully she whispered into her binocucum. "Sly and Carmelita, we have Octavio outside our door… do not come here, it's not safe yet."

She calmed herself down as there was a loud bang on the door. Neither Kitty nor Bentley moved, Octavio speaking up behind the door.

"I know you are around here somewhere vermin… Nice try with the pictures you gave the cop lady but my boys on the inside picked them up… I own this city you punk kids."

Kitty who had risen up to place barriers in front of the door to hinder Octavio from entering laughed.

"Yeah we are so very afraid old timer, get lost before our friends come and feed you your teeth."

"Ohh that's the toughest talk you've got? You're pathetic. Back in my day we had enforcers that would make people pee their pants just as soon as they looked at them."

"Yeah, yeah whatever old timer, why don't you go back and sing your opera to the people willing to listen… oh wait that's true, nobody want to listen to it do they?"

The growl and force that came up on the door made Kitty wince and draw both her blades.

"Do not speak bad about opera to me child… because you have no idea of its impact."

"Yes I do as a matter of fact… I sing a little opera now and then. But the world is filled with a lot of different music; each bringing their own impact… just because you don't get the music it does not make the music bad. Now back off or I will make sure you do."

Octavio laughed. "You have spunk kid… you sing you say? Then let's settle this like we should… you and me, the first day of carnival, a duet to make the best singer shine… I will even let you choose the song, as long as I deem it worthy."

Kitty smiled at the challenge. "Accepted… Pie Jesu sound good to you? Technically not an opera song, I know, but still it's a good one."

"Accepted… try to not get killed by my men before that time. And as for your friends you can tell them that I won't forget about this Cooper gang… you guys are all dead come Carnival."

And with that the angry stomps of Don Octavio was heard and he wandered off. Kitty opened the window gently, seeing that the man had gone.

"That was close" she muttered, turning to Bentley who looked like he was going to kill her.

"What?"

"You just told Octavio that you would sing with him on the very recital we are trying to avoid."

"The recital would have happened anyway, even if the locals don't show up his goons will, and he is one of the many musicians who like the sound of their own singing voice so good that nothing else matters… look at it from this side at least now you have a way to distract him if you need it."

Kitty looked up as Sly and Carmelita finally joined them. "We heard everything" Sly said. "Nice job keeping him distracted Kitty."

"No worries… now, what's the next move?"

"We do this two ways" Bentley said.

"You and Sly find Murray and Naomi, Carmelita and I will find the blueprints in the café's."

Kitty and Sly nodded. Kitty and Sly started walking when Kitty suddenly stopped seeing one of the Vincenetti goons flying towards the Italian police HQ.

"Wait… I just got a brilliant plan."

Sly looked at her. "OK?"

"Just stay here, this will be great entertainment, I assure you."

Kitty left Sly on the rooftop and disappeared down to in front of the police HQ and spoke in a very believable Italian accent.

"Hey all you fake cops go-a home, we don't need more stupid thugs here in Venetzia."

Kitty ran, just as the goon came flying in and a large mercenary ape came out.

"I might not be a real cop but I've got feeling's pal. And you just hurt them."

The goon turned to him. "You talking to me fruitcake? Cause I don't need a date."

"Eat missile punk."

Kitty grinned and joined Sly. "And now… we watch the show."

"Genius" Sly said shaking his head. "Kitty this is brilliant."

"No need to sound so surprised" Kitty said with a scowl, watching as Inspector Robeau came out to join in the fun.

"You know if you watch from the right angle she kind of looks like Carmelita" Kitty said, turning her head sideways.

"The old Carmelita maybe" Sly agreed. "Kind of fun though, on every heist Carmelita keeps asking me if she ever was like that, and she always apologizes when I say yes."

"Carmelita apologizes? Now that I would like to see."

Kitty rose as Inspector Robeau finished up the last goon, congratulating her mercenary employees.

"Right Sly, party's over, time to find Murray and Naomi."

Naomi and Murray were sitting in the same place Kitty had left them, once again posing as statues for the birds as they meditated.

"Hi guys, how are you doing?"

Naomi and Murray turned, their new bird friends flying off.

"Kitty, Sly, how nice to see you." Naomi rose, going over to hug Kitty again.

"Making up for lost time are we?"

"Yes… very much so. What can we help you with?"

"We need some help with destroying some tar pits."

Naomi winched. "Pardonez cheri, but we go the peaceful way… it's a dreamtime thing, the path of violence is not our path."

Kitty frowned. "This from the same girl who had an Uzi she liked to refer to as her baby?"

"That was another lifetime ago cheri."

"It was two years ago at the most."

"Never the less our answer wont change."

"What if you can help us destroy the tar drums peacefully?" Sly said.

Naomi looked at him as if he had suddenly grown an extra head. "Destroy something peacefully? How exactly?"

Kitty smiled. She had had Bentley tell her the details of the plan with Murray and Naomi speaking up.

"As students of the Australian Dreamtime, I suppose you have learned the ball form?"

Naomi pointed to Murray. "You want him… trust me Cheri, if it's the ball form you want, it's Murray you will need."

Kitty looked at Murray who smiled bashful. "Naomi don't really like heights and there was that time during practice when… well she don't like the ball form."

Kitty smiled. "All right, here is what we need you to do. Tuck into ball form, clog that manhole, shoot up in the air, aim at the tar drums on your way down and repeat the process until there isn't any more targets… you can do that, can't you big guy?"

"No problem Kitty, you just sit there, this will be over in a second."

SLYCOOPER

Kitty whistled as she sat next to Naomi looking up. "He's like a bouncing ball… a large pink round bouncing ball… you sure you won't try that out?"

"No. I did that once, never again."

"What happened at that practice that made you that afraid?"

"I tucked into the form… and rolled on the ground as the form is supposed to be used for… and rolled off a cliff, bounced up, panicked and released myself from the form and landed in the middle of a porcupine nest."

Naomi looked at Kitty who was biting her lip. "You can laugh now."

Kitty did. Loud and clear. Naomi huffed, but smiled. "You are still impossible" she said, shaking her head as Kitty dried her eyes which were full of joyful tears.

"Sorry… it's just… man that was funny."

"Glad to see that someone had fun. Murray and the Guru used the rest of the day plucking needles from my body."

"Hey guys I think Murray finished."

True enough, Murray had stopped bouncing and came running back to them.

"Nice job Murray" Sly said smiling.

"Yeah well… I haven't forgotten who my friends are; I'm just playing with a different deck."

"We appreciate it big guy… now then Sly, we should get back, Carmelita and Bentley should be finished by now."

Kitty and Sly walked back and into the safe house, where Bentley were tapping away on his screen, while Carmelita looked thoughtful.

She smiled as Sly came in. "Hey Sly I have been thinking, after this is over, how about we find ourselves a nice spaghetteria and…"

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD ENOUGH WITH THE SAUCE ALLREADY."

Kitty and Sly looked at each other. "Are we missing something?" Kitty asked.

"I met a guard… she said he wanted to swim in his mother's pasta sauce… I just wonder if theres really spaghetti that good."

"It is" Kitty said smiling. "You should try my Nonna's spaghetti, it's to die for."

"Nonna?" Sly asked.

"Italian for grandmother" Carmelita answered.

"Kitty you are Norwegian how can you hav…"

"I am 1 fourth Italian… my grandmother on my mother's side is from a small Italian village up north… but yeah, spaghetti… real Italian homemade spaghetti with homemade sauce is the best thing there ever is, no questions about it. But we're getting off the track here, come on Bent, we have done the tasks, we even got the mercenaries to take out the Vincinetti goons."

"All right" Bentley said looking at the clock. "The opera recital is only a few hours away and we are set to pull off the main scheme. I call it operation Tar – be gone."

"How very original of you Bentley" Kitty said, ducking away from Carmelita's elbow.

"Do go on Bent."

"All right. Sly you start things off by posing as a guard and get into the opera room. You will get into the main pump room and let the rest of us in through the side entrance. Once there I will use my bombs to cripple the machinery… most likely it will be guarded, so I will depend on you three to get me out of trouble."

"Understood" Kitty said smiling. "About time I got some real action."

Bentley ignored her. "We will then go for Octavio's detonation switch… Kitty you already have a way to distract him… while you do that Sly and Carmelita will loosen the bindings to the chandelier, it will crash down on him, we get the switch and then we get Murray and Naomi. By then the tar problem will be gone… any questions?"

Nobody asked anything, they all knew what had to be done. They opened the door and walked out, Sly slipping away to do his part.

Operation Tar – be gone had started


	11. Operation Tarbe gone

Chapter 11

Operation Tar – be gone

"You know, I was going to make a joke somewhere during this mission about how we should play some phantom of the opera music, but now I kind of think that's no point."

Kitty looked at the place they were in, an old sewer with candles burning and twisting.

"I mean seriously look at this place."

"Already have kiddo, this is my second time through this place… now shut up, someone might hear us."

Kitty shut up, by pure force of habit to listen to anyone who told her to do something, before a door opened and Sly let them through.

"Any problems?" Bentley asked.

"I encountered a two button door… but the Don himself was kind enough to help me out by opening it with me."

Bentley shook his head in wonder. "Only you… only you could manage… well no time to stop, we need to act quickly, everyone ready?"

Carmelita and Sly dragged out their canes, Kitty folding her blades into its staff form.

"Whenever you want to start Bentley."

Bentley nodded and drew out a bomb. He jumped up on one of the pillars and attached it. It blinked for 3 seconds before it blew up… and chaos was ensured.

Kitty didn't think, just acted, lashing out on everyone and everything until there was nothing more to hit. Kitty panted and looked around her, seeing tar spewing everywhere and her friends looking around.

"Nice work… now let's hurry, the recital is about to start."

Kitty just followed Sly as he spoke, running out into the morning. Kitty calmed herself down, then walked up to the area for Octavio's recital, noticing that the only one's there were the one's under his payroll.

"Morning Octavio… quite the crowd you got there, it must be almost 50 people."

Don Octavio growled, Kitty ignoring him as she stepped up.

"Pie Jesu, was it not?"

"It was… you may begin."

Kitty nodded, turned to the crowd, closed her eyes and started to sing.

Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu, domine

Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, Dona eis requiem

Don Octavio looked at her surprised but was not to be overplayed by a child.

Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu

Kitty smiled. For an old windbag who had tried to destroy one of the world's most beautiful cities he had a pretty good voice.

Qui tollis peccata mundi

Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem

Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei

Qui tollis peccata mundi

Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem

Dona eis requiem

Sempiternam

Dona eis requiem

Sempiternam

Kitty drew a large breath, holding the tone, so high that she was sure she had broken a few nearby windows.

Requiem

And next to her the Don followed suit, holding the last note

Sempiternam

"NOW."

As Kitty ducked away the chandelier fell… and moments before it crashed into Octavio a shock pistol blasted it to bits.

"Freeze. The lot of you are going to jail."

"Oh you have got to be kidding me" Kitty groaned, as Bentley, Carmelita and Sly face palmed themselves.

Octavio looked important for about 5 seconds. "THIS RECITAL… is over."

He turned and jumped into a boat and drove off. Kitty acted again.

"Sly, our boat is right here, we got to catch him. Carmelita you take Bentley and get to safety, we will meet you later."

They all ran off, Inspector Robeau growling.

"They never ever freeze. No mind… Sorry Cooper gang, this time I have got you surrounded."

SLYCOOPER

"Can't you drive any faster?" Sly complained.

"This is the top speed Sly, shoot out his engine; it's the only way we can catch up… holly shit look at all those cop boats."

"That's not our entire problem, Octavio is placing bombs."

"I got the steering covered" Kitty said.

"You just shoot."

"You sure?"

"With these eyes I could just as well have played a video game, just shoot him Sly." Sly and Kitty had barely jumped across the first boat when a helicopter came flying overhead, bearing inspector Robeau's voice.

"Attention criminals, you are traveling at an unsafe and illegal speed. Stop your engines and prepare to be boarded, cooperate now and be safe. Resist and I will make personally sure that you don't see the light of day for another year. I repeat, stop your engines or we will be forced to subdue you, we have been authorized to use lethal force. DO YOU HEAR THAT COOPER GANG, LETHAL FORCE."

As the helicopter flew away again, Sly grinned.

"That Jacqueline, what a sweet talker, almost as good as Carmelita."

"Yeah" Kitty said laughing. "For a moment there it was like hearing Carmelita herself. Now where are we on Octavio's engine?"

As Kitty asked Octavio's boat exploded and the driver lost control. The boat leered left and the Don himself landed in the square, their boat destroying what was left of the plaza around them, Kitty and Sly following behind him.

Up above Kitty noted Murray and Naomi had arrived, probably being worried with all the cops around.

"It's over Octavio, you're beat. Give us the demolition switch and we will all try to ditch these cops."

Octavio grinned, looking triumphant even in the eye of defeat. "You chasing me for this?"

He pulled out a basic black box with a single red button. Kitty had just managed to think of how cliché that stick was when Octavio spoke up against Sly.

Octavio laughed. "As you wish big shot, it took me 6 months to prepare this thing… but what the hey, I got more where this came from."

Murray finally spoke, looking at them. "Did you see that boat go out of control? And smash and jump into that thing? DESTRUCTION… So cool."

Naomi shook her head. Boys will be boys Kitty thought with a smile… but her smile faltered as she looked at Octavio.

"You think that was cool punk?" He laughed and pressed the button. Next to them a house fell into the canal, dust and wind blowing.

Sly growled. "You monster. Stop it… stop it now."

Octavio moved so fast that Kitty didn't even see him, kicking Sly into the wall behind him. Kitty looked up to Murray.

"Murray, I need your help, I'm not strong enough to take on this guy alone, he's too fast. He may be old but he still got it… I need help."

Murray looked unsure down at Sly. "But… but… I vowed to my guru that I'd renounce all violence… and the water is still not running pure."

"It will be clear any minute" Kitty said, drawing her blades as Octavio rounded on her.

"Now come on, let's take him."

Octavio grinned that blasted predatory grin Kitty had learned to hate and spoke.

"You are right to be scared hippo, your scrawny raccoon friend should have stayed away…" Octavio lunged again, Kitty felt the punch sending her straight into the wall.

"Murray… help" she managed, the pain flooding through her skull making it hard to think. Murray growled and suddenly he spoke.

"THAT IS IT. I WILL FLOSS MY TEETH WITH YOUR SPINE."

Murray suddenly stood next to Kitty, hitting Octavio away from Kitty, Naomi rushing down to her.

"I'm ok" Kitty groaned. "I have had worse, trust me… use the wheels, get tar out here, it will slow him down."

Naomi nodded. "All right, you are sure you are ok mon ami?"

"Of course Naomi… you two focus on getting Octavio."

Naomi and Murray kept on it, Kitty getting some help sitting up as Sly and Carmelita came for her. Bentley had run off to get everything from the safe house before they disappeared.

Following Naomi and Murray, the Don finally went down.

"So that's it… The old guard's out, and a new generation steps in."

"Yeah" Murray said shaking his fists, not even looking tired. "Stepping in big time."

"Come on guys, lets get Bentley and run off, we've got cops closing in."

"You guys go ahead" Kitty said. "I'll be right there."

"Kitty, are you sure?"

"Yes no worries, I know the rendezvous point, I'll meet you there in half an hour."

The others ran off, and once again they had just managed to get out of sight as Jacqueline appeared. She stopped up as she saw Kitty, and the Don on the ground in front of her.

"Well you took your time" Kitty said, ignoring the gun pointed at her head.

Jacqueline didn't speak, simply growled.

"Did you check the number I gave you?"

"Yes… I did. But it can't be true that you are… she died."

"And as I said, my name is Ghost." Kitty lifted her left hand and simply took it off for effect and placed it back down.

"The coopers saved my life Inspector… and as for now I am working with them… after all, it's pretty hard to get a job when you are dead. There is your mafia boss, as a present from the gang… see you around."

"And what makes you think that I will let you leave?"

Kitty smiled. "Feel free to try to stop me… just know this, I have for the last two years been kidnapped by a woman that forced me to learn all the tricks a thief knows… I also know all the tricks of a police officer… if you really think you can stop me by thinking as a mere cop, you are sadly mistaken."

And with that Kitty left with a smile, noting that Jacqueline did nothing to stop her from going.


	12. The gang is whole again

Chapter 12

The gang is whole again

The plane trip home to Paris had been pretty eventful. Naomi and Murray told the gang all about their travels around the world, all the while Naomi stayed close to Kitty, making sure over and over that she was real and that she was really there.

Kitty found the whole thing pretty amusing, her smile never faltering, even as Naomi traced her long elegant fingers along her various scars.

"Really now Naomi I'm fine, stop fussing."

"How can I? After all you have been through… how can we pretend that nothing has changed?"

"Oh things have changed" Kitty said nodding. "That does not mean you can start treating me like a child, just because I seem different… you don't see me jumping all over you just because you cut your hair and started to meditate for world peace. For what it's worth I do love what you have done with your hair, did you do that the same time as Yuri?"

Naomi nodded. "Oui, we thought it best, given what we were trying to do back then."

"Trying to do?" Kitty asked.

"Madame has not told you that story?"

"I just thought she cut her hair because of me" Kitty said.

"And in a way that's not completely inaccurate."

Naomi smiled and rubbed her temples.

"Well I suppose I could tell you, there's nothing wrong with it I suppose. About a week or so after your… after the funeral, Madame sat in her office with me, and we started to talk… about when it boiled down to it, we never really knew a lot about you or your way of living. We found it sad and wondered what we should do about it, when a basket ball flew through Madame's window with a loud crash."

Kitty winched. "Ouch."

"Well nobody got hurt" Naomi said smiling. "But Madame walked up to the window and saw 3 girls in their early twenties who looked pretty sorry. Madame signalized for them to come closer, something they did with a little trepidation."

"They apologized, said that they had lost control of the ball. Madame and I looked at them, noting that all the girls were so obviously tomboys. Madame smiled and I saw that she had a plan. She told them that saying sorry was all and good, but that it would not pay for a broken window."

"One of the girls said that they didn't have a lot of money and Madame offered them a deal. She said that we had just lost a friend… a friend that never got to show us what it meant to be a tomboy… Madame would pay for the window if the girls showed us the world from their point of view."

Kitty smiled. "And how did that end up?"

"You know all those times you complained during the lady training? I can sympathize with how you felt, I have never been so much out of my comfort zone… but it was pretty fun."

"Given our height the girls taught us basketball… it was around then we decided to cut our hair… the hair started getting in the way, even with it tied up in a ponytail."

"I wish I could have been there" Kitty said. "The looks on your faces had to be priceless."

"You should talk to Bernadette, she brought a camera at every occasion."

"You still have contact with them then?"

"Oh yes, at least we did back when I still hung around… of course it has been a while since then. Why do you think Yuri had her backyard transformed into a basketball court?"

Carmelita laughed gently. "She still meet's up with them, I have met them a few times, and they are quite the bunch."

Kitty smiled. "I like the sound of that, I hope I get to meet them soon"

"Dear passangers, we will arrive in Paris in 15 minutes, please buckle your seat belts and raise your chairs to a sitting position. It is currently 09:30 local time and the weather is sunny. I hope you have all had a pleasant flight and that you will join Airfrance once again."

Kitty smiled. "All right, home at last, right Naomi?"

Naomi didn't answer. She was looking out her window, seeing the city of Paris from above. "Yes… home at last."

It was decided pretty quickly that everyone should head back to Yuri and Bentley's place. It was big and with their friends returning, everyone would want to come by and say hi.

Kitty had been expecting Yuri to wait for them patiently, probably drawing up some new designs for a new season. What she had not expected was finding Yuri and three women she had never seen before play basketball out on the court, Yuri being remarkably boyish, even with all their other friends looking at the match.

One of the girls, a lithe hyena were the first one who saw them. "Naomi? Oh my god Naomi it's you?"

The other two stopped, as did Yuri, Kitty seeing a beaver and a red panda looking over at them.

"Bonjour Bernadette. How are you doing cheri?"

"A lot better now that you are back with us."

Bernadette smiled and ran over to Naomi, hugging the cheetah. Yuri smiled and gave the ball she was holding to the red panda, as she too came over to hug Naomi.

"Madame… it's so good to see you."

"The feeling is mutual cheri… I have missed you so much."

Bernadette turned to Kitty. "And who are you?"

"I'm the reason they turned into tomboys" Kitty said. "Now you were Bernadette? Naomi told me I should go to you for pictures of the experience?"

Bernadette laughed, the others joining in. "Oh man it was so much fun. You should have seen their faces on our first trip to McDonnalds, it was a riot."

"No way, you got them to eat junk food? How in the world did that happen?"

The other two had come over now, Kitty saying hi to both the beaver, named Elise and the red panda named Meng.

"We started easy" Elise said. "Took them shopping for clothes, it was something they could relate to, but we gave them new guidelines to go after."

"Yeah you know, the baggier the pants the better, you can never have to many black t shirts, pink is the color of doom but is ok if it's just a little and in context with darker colors to make the pink look more purple to make it ok, you know, that sort of stuff."

Kitty shook her head in wonder. "Where have you guys been all my life?"

Meng laughed. "Hey we had fun… and it beat having to pay for that window. Now we can play on a good court. Hey want to join? We can play 3 vs 3."

"Sure" Kitty said. "But I'm not too good at it, my height is kind of an issue."

"No problem. Hey how about you, Naomi and Yuri against us… that seem ok to you?"

Kitty turned to Naomi and Yuri. "You guys ok with that?"

Yuri smiled. "Not a problem cheri, we can take them."

"Just let me change first" Naomi said. "If I'm going to play basket I should look the part."

Naomi returned a few minutes later, dressed in the right outfit and the right shoes.

"All right" Carmelita said holding the ball. "I'll be the judge, anyone got any problems with that?"

"None whatsoever, now can we start?" Meng asked, the young panda stepping up to the mid court.

Yuri joined her, standing a few inches taller than the girl next to her.

"Get ready… set… go." Carmelita threw the ball into the air, Yuri getting a hand on it, sending it towards Naomi who acted and sent it to Kitty.

For a while nothing mattered, it was all basket ball and fun, until finally the score stood 21-17 to Kitty, Yuri and Naomi's team.

"Nice job guys" Kitty said grinning. "And to you three, which one of you taught Yuri to dunk? I think I'd like to marry you."

Elise laughed. "That would be me, and I'm flattered really. Now it's getting late, we should head home… see you guys around."

They said their good bye's and left, Kitty smiling.

"I like those three, their tons of fun."

"Oui, they are quite the scoundrels" Yuri said with a smile. "Now come on cheri, we should get inside, we have a lot to talk about, oui?"

Yuri led everyone inside, pulling out a memory stick to Bentley.

"Keiko sends her warmest regards" she said, kissing Bentley. "I missed you mon cher."

"And I missed you."

"So how was Venice?"

"Eventful, we took on Don Octavio" Kitty said.

Svetlana looked up surprised.

"Don Octavio? Madame didn't the newspaper say something about him?"

"Oui" Yuri said with a nod. "He got sentenced to thirty years for trying to sink the city."

Kitty smiled. "You mean the Italians' don't like it when you try to sink their landmarks? How strange."

Everyone laughed, except Bentley, who only smiled, as he opened his laptop and looked at what Keiko had sent them.

"Hey Kitty… you said you got all the information in the world through those eyes of yours… might I borrow you for a moment to look at this?"

Kitty walked over looking at the pictures. "Wow… ok yeah I can tell you now that we need way more people than we have right now."

"Yeah I can see that, but to what extent?"

The others hurdled around the machine, looking at the pictures.

"Madre y dios" Carmelita muttered.

Kitty looked the picture over. "Well let's start from the bottom up… the ocean is electrified, as you can see by those rods floating in the water… we need a boat made of wood, maybe even a ship. The grounds are covered with guards, nothing Sly and Carmelita can't pass through, but we should have something in the air around them to help anyway… do you still have skills with those remote control gizmos?"

"Yes" Bentley said… "but I'm not that good, we should look for someone who has a bit more knowledge in the field."

Kitty nodded. "Then we have the turrets and various other problems in the air… we should have someone make us a small plane, I think it will be needed… maybe have something magical on our side too, that could help."

"Magic? Magic isn't real Kitty, really how old are you?"

Kitty turned to Carmelita. "This from the woman who nearly got brainwashed because of magic… and I suppose you got a natural explanation for everything that happened with the fiendish five in Haiti when you went to pick up Mz. Ruby? Just because you don't see it, it does not mean that it doesn't exist."

"Well yes I suppose so but… really Kitty magic?"

"Um Carmelita?" Carmelita turned to Naomi who looked apologetic.

"Our Guru does a mild form of magic, we have seen it a lot of times."

"What kind of magic?" Kitty asked intrigued.

Murray smiled and answered. "He does all sorts of awesome stuff, he can turn into bushes and small shrubs to avoid capture, and can even get weak minded people to do as he tells them to by simply touching their heads."

Kitty turned to Sly. "Sounds like someone we want like an ally… besides, Naomi and Murray haven't gotten permission to stop their training, it's only fair that we go and meet this Guru eye to eye, don't you think Sly?"

Sly smirked, seeing Naomi and Murray lit up. Apparently they had been having second thoughts about leaving without telling the Guru about it.

"Sounds like a plan… everyone spend some time with your children and loved ones, we are leaving for the Australian outback as soon as possible."


	13. Australia

Chapter 13

Australia

Kitty winced… looking out at the outback in front of her she was not sure wich part made her heart wrench more, the way the people below was destroying the beautiful land, or the look on Naomi and Murray's face as they realized that the guru was nowhere to be found.

"Right… we have a lot to do" Kitty said, pulling out her mask… "let's put two and two together… invaders in the land, the protector of the land gone, I'd say a basic kidnapping, although from personal experience that's not really reassuring… Murray, Naomi, where should we start looking?"

Naomi pointed up to a small cliff. "He likes to spend time up in that cave… the view down at the valley is breathtaking from up there."

Kitty nodded. "Sly we need your Cooper skills, do you see the way up?"

"Yeah, a few loose bolts and the like, no worries Kitty I got this."

And Sly went away, swinging his way up to the cliff with a Cooper's precision.

"Sorry guys, he's not here, got any other idea's where he might be?"

Murray brought up his binocucum as Sly's voice rang through their ears. "Well that's his hut, but he doesn't really hang out there on account of the smell."

"The smell?" Kitty asked, Murray wincing.

"It's a long story, I had to apologize up and down for like a month before he would speak to me again."

"What in the world did you do?" Carmelita asked.

"The unspeakable Carmelita, the unspeakable."

"Oh it wasn't that bad" Naomi said huffing. "So you found a skunk and thought it was a cat and took it home and asked if you could keep it… and the four kids it had that you had brought along… ok fine it was bad, but it all worked out in the end right?"

Kitty snorted, as if trying very hard not to laugh.

"I think I'll go and check the hut… you guys stay here near the safe house… we can use it as a safe house right?"

"Well it's empty" Bentley said. "And it works for us. Now get going, I'll set up things here."

Carmelita rushed off and soon they heard her once again. "OK the place is empty, but I have found signs of struggle… the miners must have taken him somewhere."

"You are probably right" Naomi said. "The Guru would probably try to find a way for everyone to be happy… but if the miners are looking for opals then a little won't be enough… what should we do?"

"Get me Bentley on the line" Carmelita said, Bentley taking up his own binocucum.

"Well Bent, any suggestions?"

"It's tough to say, but given the layout of the camp I'd say your best option is that large area with the high fence."

Sly spoke up over his own binocucum. "I'm heading towards that area now, want to join me Corazon?"

"I'd thought you'd never ask Ringtail."

"You two focus" Bentley snapped. "Remember why we are here. And be careful about that Gyrocopter, it was probably what found the guru in the first place."

Bentley pulled down his binocucum and shook his head.

"Honestly, those two are going to be the death of me one day."

"How is the safe house thing going?" Kitty asked.

"It's ready for us, good thing too, I don't like being out in the open like this."

"Hey guys, we found him." Carmelita's voice spoke up loud and clear, and Naomi and Murray sighed in relief.

"We have a slight problem though" Sly said. "He won't leave the stockade without his stick and moon stone. Apparently they got some mystical value."

"Sounds about right" Murray nodded.

"Oui, definitively our guru."

"Also he says that the gods can't be at peace and he wont be able to use his powers until we purify Ayers rock."

"Anything else? He'd like to meet all of you to… how did you put it sir? Ah right, judge our spiritual centers. One by one he said."

"All right then, we got a plan… why don't you two get back here and we can take it from there."

"One more thing… can someone explain what he means about the miners unearthing the mask of dark earth and why it's a bad thing?"

Naomi and Murray shared a look. "Uh Oh, that's not good" Murray said.

"Non, it's not" Naomi agreed, shaking her head. "We will explain everything, just come back here."

It didn't take more than a few minutes before Sly and Carmelita returned, and Naomi sat down in the safe house.

"OK we should take this from the top I think," Naomi said, dragging a hand through her short blonde hair. "The mask of dark earth is an old mystical entity. It brings chaos and hatred, and takes control over the person who it is placed upon. If the Guru says that it's loose we need to bring it down."

"All right," Kitty said nodding. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves, the stick and stone first I think."

Bentley nodded. "Yes… and I think I have figured out where they are keeping them, in two of the mines. Given the terrain I think it's best if Sly or Carmelita take care of it. In the mean time, Murray I have found a cave that might make getting up to the guru a little more easy for us who can't do what Sly, Carmelita and Kitty can, I need you to open the road for us."

"No worries Bentley, the Murray is on the case."

Kitty smiled. "In the mean time I think I'll go and visit the Guru, since I can jump around a tad more easy than you can. Unless you got a job for me to Bent?"

"Not yet, you are free to go around Kitty, just be on the lookout for trouble."

"Of course Bent, I'll let you know if something does come up."

Kitty walked out and headed towards the stockade. It took some time getting there, but she managed it. Once there she saw the Guru, a small koala with aboriginal markings.

Kitty bowed respectfully, and then sat down in a basic meditating pose.

"Greetings Guru, I am Kitty Petro."

The guru smiled at her and started speaking. It was strange Kitty noted. It sounded like gibberish in her ears… but somehow she could understand what he was saying.

"Thank you for seeing me young child… you carry a heavy burden on your shoulders I feel."

"That may be. I have had a life filled with sorrow… but the burden is easier to bear with friends."

The guru smiled at her. "You seem familiar child… are you the girl who's departure left such a hole in my student's chests?"

Kitty nodded. "I was kidnapped and thought of as dead… after what I have heard, Naomi and Murray left to take some time to think."

"Thinking is easy… acting is hard." The Guru nodded as he spoke, looking at Kitty's form. "So much hardship has befallen you… and yet your heart is pure and filled with happiness, your mind filled with belief and faith… we will become good friends I should think… and if you ever need a friend to talk to, you know where to find me."

Kitty smiled and rose from the ground. "Thank you Guru, and should you ever need me to return the favor you need only ask."

"I thank you for your honesty child… may your future be as bright and warm as the sun itself."

Kitty smiled, and jumped off the cliff, down to the platform below, taking time to punch a miner in the face, knocking him out.

"That was for destroying the beautiful landscape for a few pretty gems you ass" she grumbled, and walked towards the safe house.

Once back she saw that everyone except Sly and Murray were waiting. Kitty took a deep breath.

"Wow… that's some guru."

Naomi chuckled. "Oui, he has a presence to him all right."

"It was as if he could see inside me… seeing the parts that I tried to hide or forget… it was amazing."

"He did that to me and Murray too when we first met him… it was a most interesting encounter."

Kitty nodded, sitting down. "So where is Sly and Murray?"

"Sly is out getting the staff and moon stone, then bring it back here so I can give it to the Guru when I go and meet him. Murray is finding a way through the tunnels to help the rest of us get to the Guru."

Just as Bentley had finished talking, Murray came up on the binocucum.

"Guys, I am seeing the biggest kangaroo I have ever seen… and he's wearing the mask of dark earth."

Kitty brought up her binocucum, seeing what Murray was seeing. She whistled.

"Damn look at that guy, the mask really made him grow."

"I can take him" Murray proclaimed.

"I'm sure you can Murray but the road ahead is shut down by those drills… unless… Murray, here is the plan, knock out the mask wearing kangaroo and knock him into the drills, that should open up the way."

"Take a guy and throw him into a drill? Isn't that kind of mean?"

"If the mask has made him grow it will probably make him more durable, it will work, trust me."

"Sure, I'll give it a shot, be right back you guys."

It took no more than a minute before Murray spoke up again. "Holly Cow… the mask can run… mine can't do that."

"Amazing" Kitty said, seeing for herself through the binocucum that yes, the mask was running away. "Still think there is no such thing as magic Carmelita?"

"I… uh… I'm pleading the fifth here."

"Well Murray go through the door it should be open now. On the outside there should be a small platform, dump it down at the side and we can use it to get up to the Guru." Bentley spoke up, Murray signalizing that he had heard.

"I'll head out" Naomi said rising. "I need to speak to the guru too."

"You need help traversing the miners?" Kitty asked.

"Don't be silly" Naomi said smiling. "I have traveled with a wanted man for 2 years, I have learned to stay in the shadows if needed."

And with that she left. No more than a minute later the door opened and Sly came inside.

"Who 'pant' the heck 'pant' booby traps 'pant' a friggin stick?"

"Apparently the miners" Kitty said, avoiding Carmelita's hand that came to smack her over the head.

"Can I get you something Sly?"

"Some water would be nice… thanks querera, I appreciate it."

Bentley rose from his seat. "Right, time I meet with the guru too, and gave him back his things. I'll see you all later, probably with the Guru."

Bentley didn't even get a chance to open the door as Murray and Naomi entered.

"He said he'd join if we helped him purify the land and deal with the mask of Dark earth."

"Very well" Bentley said. "I am up to bat, you guys stay here out of troub… wait a minute."

"What?" Carmelita asked.

"I totally forgot, we need to take care of Ayers Rock or else the Guru's magic wont work… I got a plan, Murray, Carmelita I need you two to join me… the rest of you, I'd rather you didn't come, this will not be easy and the experience… unsettling."

"What do you need us to do Bent?" Carmelita asked.

"Hunt some scorpions" Bentley muttered, leading the two out the door.

Kitty turned to Naomi and Sly. "I vote we hook up a binocucum to Bentley's laptop and watch from there."

"I second that notion" Sly said, and the two rushed over to the laptop, ignoring Naomi who asked if this was such a good idea?

A while later Kitty turned to Sly.

"Do you ever get the feeling when doing these missions that one day we should sell our stories to a videogame company and become filthy rich?"

"Good thought" Sly said. "We should try that once… only come up with aliases and redraw the characters… Naomi does Yuri know someone in the gaming industry?"

"I doubt it" Naomi said. "But she probably knows someone who knows someone."

"Don't we all" Kitty said grinning. "Ohh look at those miners go… they look so tiny next to those scorpions."

"All right guys, we are coming back, I'll head up to the Guru, we'll be with you in a minute."

"Yeah well I am heading out, I want to see what this Guru can do, other than reading my mind." Kitty rose, stretching.

"Very well Kitty, head to the drills near the lemonade bar, that's where things will happen."

Kitty left, feeling rested and ready for action. Quickly getting to the lemonade bar she rested on top of a nearby roof, watching fascinated as the Guru came rushing on top of a kangaroo, who were running at ridiculous speeds. As the guru jumped off it, the kangaroo ran straight into a wall, and knocked himself out.

Kitty laughed. It was like watching a cartoon, filled with slapstick humor. And as the guru took over miner after miner, taking down the drills with their heads, Kitty thought about the irony that Murray had told her to go the peaceful way… this really did not seem like a peaceful way. The drills were destroyed and the Guru rushed over to the next target, a large saw that seeped into the nearby rock face.

Once again the miner's heads was used, this time to cut the electricity, causing a powerful explosion, leaving the saw blades lying broken in the dust. Kitty walked back to the safe house.

"Wow that was awesome" she said. "Did you guys see that?"

"Yeah, we decided to make the binocucum stream on Bentley's computer, even our friends home in Paris saw that," Sly said grinning.

"All right Bent, what now?"

"Well the guru has agreed to join us provided we can help him getting rid of the miners and the mask of Dark earth. It's a big task, but I think we're up for it. First off, we need to list the aid of some of the local wild life, to help thin out the lines of miners. Second, we will hit these guys where they live… or at least relax. If we can drive them out of their local lemonade bar, the moral amongst the miners will be severely crippled."

"A lemonade bar? Not very grown up and tough is it?"

"FINALLY", Bentley said, raising his voice over Kitty's, making sure she realized that he was still talking. "Someone will need to use some mining equipment to drill for some radioactive oil deep beneath the dry lakebed. Trust me, it's all a part of the plan to take down the mask of dark earth."

Carmelita nodded. "All right everyone, you heard the turtle. Let's get cracking."


	14. A lemonade bar drinking contest

Chapter 14

A lemonade bar drinking contest

"All right, we will split up in two parts" Bentley said. "First of all, Kitty, Naomi, Carmelita, you three head for the lemonade bar. Challenge the guys there to a drinking contest where the stakes are, the losers get out of the lemonade bar and never returns… let's see how they deal with the idea of losing their bar."

"Right you are Bent" Carmelita said, turning to Kitty and Naomi. "Ready?"

"Of course" Kitty said, cracking her knuckles.

"What I don't do for you guys" Naomi grumbled jokingly, following Kitty and Carmelita.

Once outside Kitty turned to Naomi, handing the cheetah her tonfa's. "Just in case there will be trouble its better that you have a way to defend yourself."

Naomi smiled, taking the tonfa's. "Thank you Kitty, you are a good friend."

"Not as good as I wished I was" Kitty said sighing. "Not since Neyla… well it doesn't matter now does it? Shall we go and drink some lemonade?"

Carmelita nodded. "Remember guys, look tough and mean. We are here to intimidate the locals."

She grinned and pushed open the doors to the bar, looking tough and impressive, barking out a threat that was so realistic that Kitty for a while wondered if they were back in Interpol HQ.

"Listen up dirtbags, time to clear out. From now on, this bar is Cooper gang turf."

A dingo grinned and walked up to Carmelita, the vixen never backing down for a single second.

"Tough talk Sheila, but you aint got no respect with us. We here are known around these parts for our drinking skills… and it so happens that this is a lemonade bar."

"A drinking challenge ey? You are on wagga, your best three against us."

The dingo's laughed. "Sheila's got claws… all right then, fair dinkum, losers have to clear out, a 3 on 3 game."

The girls followed the three dingo's to a table, Kitty sitting at the end, Carmelita in the middle and Naomi at the start. The glasses were placed in front of them, Naomi and the dingo across her, holding a hand on the handle.

"Get ready… set… go."

Naomi lurched back the glass, a tad faster than the dingo, and started to gulp down the drink. It took no more than a few seconds before she slammed the glass down on the table, showing that it was empty, as Carmelita raised her glass, the second dingo right behind her.

Carmelita too let down her glass, and Kitty raised her own. She didn't think, simply drank, swallowed mouthful by mouthful until finally she slammed the glass down and burped loud, clear and boyish.

"We win" she said, placing a hand over her mouth.

"Hey that's cheating" the dingo said growling. "You three spilled more than you drank."

"You saying you aren't going to hold up your end of the bargain?" Carmelita growled.

"Round here Sheila, there is only one thing we do with cheaters… light up the fence Bruce, it's time we gave these cheaters a beating."

"Now we're talking" Kitty said, dragging lose her blades, hitting the first dingo who fell back into the electric fence his pal had turned on.

Kitty ducked, swung, kicked and punched everyone and everything that came close to her, and now and then she called on her friends.

"How are you guys doing?"

"Pretty well thank you" Carmelita said, knocking yet another miner out with her cane.

"And you Naomi?"

"I haven't had this much fun in ages… but next time I am invited to one of your little trips I am bringing my baby."

Kitty laughed, looking around. "Well, mission complete, those guys won't be back here any time soon."

Carmelita was about to say something, probably something around, Kitty stop fooling around, but stopped up as a howl was heard. The dingo that came in was huge… as was the mask on his face.

"Oboy" Kitty said.

Carmelita nodded agreeing. "I think we need to work together to take him down."

"All right I got a plan" Kitty said, pulling out something from one of her pockets. "Naomi you take these. Push the red button and throw it at him, when he's dazed Carmelita you hit him. When he comes too I will start throwing stuff at him, I may not look it but I am strong. We repeat this until he's down, any questions?"

"Yes, what are these?" Naomi asked.

"Think of them as very small bombs… like miniature versions of Bentley's. They don't do a lot of damage, but they can make someone dizzy and disoriented."

"All right" Carmelita said nodding. "You guys start doing what you need to do, I'll distract that thing."

The fight lasted longer than Kitty had thought. The dingo rushed around tearing up everything or anything in it's path, but finally he fell… and Naomi, Carmelita and Kitty stared as the mask lifted itself off the miner and disappeared.

"The mask… it's getting away… how is it getting away it's a mask?"

Kitty shook her head at Carmelita's question. "That mask is going to continue making trouble, I can just feel it. Well we cleared out the bar at least, let's head back to the safe house."

Once there everyone stopped as they saw the guys looking pretty beat up.

"What happened to you?"

"We had some adventures with the local wildlife" Sly said. "Nothing big, but if you see an alligator trotting towards you, turn and run the other way."

"All right… so what now?"

"Now Kitty, you and Murray need to go out on a mission."

"The oil fields then?" Kitty surmised, nodding. "All right, just give me five seconds, those miners started a brawl and we had to fight off a dingo wearing the mask of Dark earth, it was nasty."

A little while later Kitty and Murray stood out in the oil field.

"Right Murray… you know what to do?"

"Yeah, I'll pump the oil, you deal with the heavy machinery… you do know how to drive this thing, right?"

"No sweat" Kitty said, pointing to her eyes. "Special super lenses remember… now come on, let's get too it… and Murray, we need to collect a small sample, be careful, this stuff can give you cancer one day if we aren't careful."

"Got it, I promise to not run off into the field soaking myself in radioactive oil screaming like a child."

Kitty grinned. "Naomi made you promise that didn't she?"

"Yeah… I love it when she worries about me."

Kitty laughed, and sat herself down in the claw machine, turning it on.

About ten minutes later Kitty and Murray returned.

"Did you get it?" Bentley asked.

Kitty held up her left hand, twirling her ring finger around like a bottle cap, holding out a small vial of green glowing oil.

"OK that's just disturbing" Carmelita said, looking sick.

"It's a good place to keep things locked up… now then Bentley… do you need anything else?"

"No" Bentley said smiling. "It's time for the operation's main event to start."

Everyone sat down, looking over to Bentley who smiled at them. "You can feel it in the air… the miners are just about ready to pack it in and leave, in fact, they would probably already be long gone if not for the mask of dark earth. We need to destroy it… simple as that."

"Taking down a thousand year old bad mystical mask? Yeah that sounds easy" Kitty said, grinning as Bentley scowled at her.

"I call this operation, Operation Moon Crash."

Kitty turned to Naomi. "Beats Operation Tar - be gone."

"TO START THINGS OFF…"

Kitty grinned but stopped talking, smiling innocently at Bentley. Bentley sighed.

"To start things off we need the Guru to take out the gyrocopter. With it gone, we will have clear skies for part 2. Now according to aboriginal folk lore, the mask of Dark earth is the sworn enemy of the moon spirit. So… given Murray's… moon like shape we will coat him in the glowing oil, and have him pose as the spirit. We dangle him from the crane, the mask spots his ancient foe and will come running, Murray will thunder flop off the crane and obliterate the mask, making the guru free to join us… any questions?"

Kitty raised her hand as she saw Naomi to stunned to speak.

"Yeah a few things Bentley… item one, that is radioactive oil… rubbing Murray in with it will probably give him cancer… second of all if we were to rub it on him we would need a LOT more oil than the small sample you asked us to get. Also I don't think Naomi is too keen on letting her hubby drop from the top of a crane."

Bentley held up the sample Kitty had given him, and walked over to a machine he dragged up from his back pack.

"What is that?" Kitty asked.

"This is a machine that makes food paint… I needed the oil to have a correct color scheme to fool the mask… when I said we rub him in oil I meant food oil, as for the thunder flop, Murray has done worse stunts and walked away without a scratch. Now let's start this shall we?"

Kitty blinked, then looked at Naomi. "For what it's worth I don't think this is a good plan either, and looking back something always screw things up."


	15. Operation Moon Crash

Chapter 15

Operation Moon Crash

Kitty walked out, ignoring Bentley's small scowl. Carmelita rushed up to her.

"Hey Kitty… I know you aren't trying to, but you are kind of hurting Bentley's feelings."

Kitty sighed. "Yeah… sorry, I'll make it up to him later on… things have been hard lately."

"Hard how?"

"It was something the guru said… something about me having a dark past and carrying a great burden on my shoulders… and I had to think about wich part of my life he meant… and I realized that it's so much of me… of who I was that I haven't told you… I know all about you, about the sad story of Sly's childhood, Naomi and Yuri meeting, your parents raising you and Carmen in Spain… but I never returned the favor because I find it hard to talk about… I guess what I am trying to say is that the past is catching up to me again and I'm not sure that I like it."

Carmelita frowned, but hugged Kitty for a quick second.

"Don't worry Kitty… we will be here for you… now let's go and get ready."

Kitty and Carmelita turned around as an explosion was heard.

"That would be the gyrocopter" Kitty said. "Now all we need is t… well hello there."

Carmelita frowned. "What?"

"We got company" Kitty said pointing. "Looks like someone finally caught up."

Carmelita turned, and groaned, Kitty laughing as she pulled out the binocucum.

"Hey Bent, small problem here, Jacqueline is on the scene."

"Drat, we can't stop this operation now… we need to give her a wide berth."

"Roger, applying wide berth" came Sly's voice, making Kitty snort and Carmelita shake her head.

"Quit horsing around and look out for the mask… it's close, I can feel it."

For a little while nobody moved around… until finally Kitty noticed a small red glow.

"I see it… it's headed towards Murray's position."

"Roger" Murray said, the crane turning. Murray thunder flopped down on the ground, knocking out the miner with the mask.

"Where is the mask, did you get the mask", Bentley asked.

Carmelita looked down as Sly joined her and Kitty.

"I don't know I can't see."

"But I can" Kitty said gulping… "the mask moved… it's on Jacqueline… and I think she can see us."

"Coopers… I thought I'd find you here."

Sly gulped. "Jacqueline… um you got a little something on your face."

Jacqueline growled, and visibly grew a few inches larger as she spoke, her voice going from feminine to something out of a horror flick.

"It's not nice to make fun of a girl's looks… maybe I SHOULD SMASH YOU."

Kitty swallowed. "Now, that's not nice… DUCK."

The three ran away as the large shoots from Jacqueline's gun were aimed at them, the three dodging to the best of their abilities as Jacqueline tried to catch them.

Carmelita yelled into her binocucum. "BENTLEY, THINK YOU CAN HELP US OVER HERE? A FEW SLEEP DARTS IN JACQELARGA HERE WOULD HELP."

"On it" Bentley said, as Jacqueline turned towards Kitty, who had caught her attention away from the others.

"Whenever you are ready Bentley, this is as open a space as you can get."

The first dart hit it's target, Jacqueline not even feeling it in her berserker rage. The second was the same… but after the fifth… Kitty, who had finally joined up with the rest of the gang could do no more than to gape.

"Oh… my… holy… god."

"Bentley… what's going on?"

Carmelita asked, looking very frail and scared.

"The chemicals in the darts must be interacting with the mask somehow… and not for the better."

"Woah you're not kidding" Sly said. "She's gigantic. Everyone head for the big truck, we need to get some distance between her and us, she might shrink down again after a while."

Everyone rushed to the truck, Kitty finding a seat in the claw machine facing their backs.

"Guys she is coming after us… and she has explosives. You focus on driving, I'll deal with the bombs, I'll throw a few back at her, maybe we'll slow her down."

And once again Kitty used the crane, lifting up the large barrels and flung them back at the jackal who barely stumbled before rushing after the gang again. Finally the gang was at Ayers Rock; Murray parking the car as Jacqueline came trudging after them.

Murray spoke up. "She's too huge, we can't outrun her in that truck."

"What do we do?" Naomi asked.

"This is bad" Bentley said. "We need a new strategy, and fast. Force just isn't working."

Sly looked up. "Time to stop running and deal with the problem… pry off the mask of dark earth."

"Pry it off how exactly?" Carmelita asked.

Kitty looked up. "I think I get it… all right, I'll do it."

"WHAT? OK wait a minute, first of all how do you plan getting up there, second of all, how will you get it off?"

"I'll climb" Kitty said. "Up the shoelaces, the seams of her pants, maybe even in her hair if I have too, and once I am up at the strings that attached themselves, I will get them off… unless someone have a better plan?"

"I got one" Murray said. "But we'll need a giant attack robot."

"Yeah I'll think I'll stick with the climbing plan" Kitty said. "Wish me luck guys."

Kitty stepped out, noting and silently cursing the fact that Jacqueline's henchmen had shown up, guns blazing. "If not for the fact that I heard your dialect and know you to be soviet I'd think you were all American" she grumbled, pausing as Jacqueline stepped down right next to her.

Quickly Kitty jumped, and started to climb up her shoelaces on her knee length long black boots. At the top of her boots came the pants. They were a pair of basic cargo pants, the seams just big enough for Kitty to latch onto as she continued climbing. Jacqueline's coat, a basic blue denim coat had enough pockets and buttons for Kitty to hold onto as she reached higher. Suddenly she was in the red haired jackal's hair, climbing the long straight hair to a hook by her ear.

As soon as she had grabbed it, she felt the woman jerk, and a hand came up to tear the annoyance away, bringing a part of the mask with it. Kitty fell to the earth, landing gracefully.

"All right… one more time should do it" she muttered and ran towards the other boot.

And once again she did the same, climbing up the boot, over the pants, hanging onto buttons and strings of hair, finally clutching the hook. Jacqueline grabbed at it and the mask fell off. The mercenaries attacked it, and there was nothing left of the mask.

Kitty landed on the ground, turning to see Jacqueline cry out and shrinking, Kitty capturing the jackal as she landed unconscious in Kitty's arms. The mercenaries flew off, a voice calling over Jacqueline's walkie talkie that they would meet her at the base. Kitty turned, as her friends came up to her.

"Come on guys… until she wakes up I am not going anywhere, someone should start a fire."

Kitty lifted Jacqueline up into her arms, taking the woman down to rest in the shade away from the hot Australian sun.

The others didn't speak, simply did as Kitty asked of them, making a small fire. Sly quickly found a video camera that the good inspector had brought along, deciding after a quick look over at Kitty to boot it up. He faced himself and spoke.

"Hi there inspector, sorry to take up space on your recorder like this, but I felt that it was important… you have been chasing me and Carmelita around a lot for reasons of your own… feel free to hate us… but please don't hate the girl who just saved you."

He turned the camera over to Kitty, showing the image of Jacqueline laying in Kitty's lap, Kitty gently brushing away the hair from her face. Kitty looked up at him.

"Where did you find that?"

"It's hers" Sly said, pointing to the woman resting in Kitty's lap. "If we are going to watch over her for the night, we should be able to entertain ourselves."

"You want entertaining Sly, you know you only need to ask."

Kitty smiled, taking off her coat and replacing it as a pillow for Jacqueline.

"All right guys… it's been some time since I did this for you, so sorry if I sound a little hoarse."

Kitty cleared her throat, and everyone, even the guru, somehow knew what was about to happen, settling down.

Bentley took up his binocucum, telling Kitty that their friends back home were listening in too. Kitty smiled and nodded, starting to sing

All day staring at the ceiling

Making friends with shadows on my wall

All night hearing voices telling me

That I should get some sleep

Because tomorrow might be good for something

Hold on

Feeling like I'm headed for a breakdown

And I don't know why

But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell

I know right now you can't tell

But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see

A different side of me

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired

I know right now you don't care

But soon enough you're gonna think of me

And how I used to be...me

I'm talking to myself in public

Dodging glances on the train

And I know, I know they've all been talking about me

I can hear them whisper

And it makes me think there must be something wrong with me

Out of all the hours thinking

Somehow I've lost my mind

But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell

I know right now you can't tell

But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see

A different side of me

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired

I know right now you don't care

But soon enough you're gonna think of me

And how I used to be

I've been talking in my sleep

Pretty soon they'll come to get me

Yeah, they're taking me away

But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell

I know right now you can't tell

But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see

A different side of me

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired

I know right now you don't care

But soon enough you're gonna think of me

And how I used to be

Yeah, how I used to be

How I used to be

Well, I'm just a little unwell

How I used to be

How I used to be

I'm just a little unwell

Kitty smiled as she stopped singing, looking over to see that Jacqueline was still sleeping.

She also noted that Sly was still filming.

"That entertaining enough for you Sly?" Sly nodded, not trusting his voice after Kitty's song… the lyrics were obviously personal, and it showed that even though she was all smiles, Kitty still had issues after her two years with Neyla.

"Can I borrow that camera?" Kitty asked.

Sly handed it over, and Kitty turned it so it filmed her close up.

"In Venice you told me that you found all people in masks who refused to cooperate suspicious… well here is a newsflash for you inspector… everyone wears a mask to hide who they think they are inside. A bully wears a mask to hide that he feels small and helpless… a drunk wears a mask to hide that he is sad about the family he lost… a cheerful girl wears a mask to hide the fact that her life has been hell and that she deep inside still have issues trusting people… so until the next time we meet think of this… which mask do you hide behind?"

Kitty turned off the camera, giving it back to Sly.

"Right" she said sighing, sitting down on the ground.

"The moment we are back in Paris… I need to talk to everyone… is that ok?"

"Of course" Naomi said, Kitty smiling and leaning at her, resting her eyes. The guru smiled as Kitty fell asleep.

"That child has a heavy stone in her heart… a stone that she can never truly let go… she is lucky to have you to help her lifting it."

"No it's the other way around" Carmelita said, holding an eye at Jacqueline.

"We are lucky to have the opportunity to help her."

The gang took turns watching over Jacqueline, someone now and then taking her recorder to film various moments throughout the night, like when on Naomi's watch, a groundhog came out of the ground and walked over to sit on top of a sleeping Bentley's shell, the turtle not noticing anything until the groundhog tried to get inside the shell itself, or when Carmelita had her watch and Kitty woke up, deciding to do some tai chi moves, with the Australian outback's sunrise as a backdrop.

The camera was left next to Jacqueline, with a small calling card that said it contained evidence, with love from the cooper gang, as the sun finally rose and everyone saw the beauty of the land around them. Kitty smiled, shaking her head in wonder.

"How could anyone even think of destroying this for the sake of some opals?"

Nobody could answer her; they were wondering the same thing. A small groan made everyone turn around; Jacqueline was waking up from her sleep. Sly smiled.

"All right guys… time to head home… every one of us."

The guru smiled, bowing, before rushing after the rest, away from where Jacqueline for a small moment thought she had seen a red tail sneak its way around a stone.


	16. Old News

Chapter 16

Old news

Kitty sighed. She stood in the middle of Yuri's living room, all her friends afflicted with the Cooper gang gathered around her.

Silently she wondered where to start, and why she was doing this at all, before just silently telling herself to start talking.

"My mom threw out my dad from our home when I was very young… he wasn't a bad man, nor was he abusive… he was simply a lazy slob and my mom had had enough… so for the first part of my childhood it was me and mom… then she met a guy, god knows what she saw in him, I have never asked, and I don't really want to know."

"One thing led to the other and suddenly I had a stepfather and a half brother 5 years younger than me. Up until then I was actually a good kid. I behaved and were polite… suddenly I got a brother and I stopped getting all the attention… according to mom, after that I got rebellious and decided to cut up all my dresses and draw on my real fathers fake leather chair with markers… the heavy stuff with alcohol in them to make sure they will never go away."

Everyone laughed as Kitty looked proud of her accomplishments.

"Anyways we moved away to my stepfather's home town, a typical everyone knows everyone and everybody knows everybody's business town… I started first grade one day later than anyone else."

Kitty took a deep breath, trying to not break down in front of her friends.

"And that's where hell started."

Everyone looked up at her curiously and Kitty tried to laugh her sorrows off.

"Being new in a place where everyone has grown up with each other is not easy… it started with bullying me because I was new… then it was because I have a small speaking error… then because I was different… I was stupid… and it boiled down to one simple fact… everyone learned soon enough that to bully Kitty was ok, because Kitty didn't do anything to stop it."

Kitty swallowed hard. "My stepfather… he was pretty old fashioned… a girl washes and cleans, and cooks and should not be visible… to not do what he said or told me to do meant another punch… darn bastard was smart though, never hit where he'd leave a mark… old fireman he was to. I didn't tell mom… mostly because of the threats coming from him hinting to what would happen if I did talk. At school I had a teacher who liked some students better than others, usually the ones whose mothers she knew through her choir."

"I did tell mom that I was being bullied, she took me to the principal who politely told my mom that there was no such thing as bullying at her school, the children simply played rough."

Kitty stopped to take a small sip of water from a glass, casting a small smile at Svetlana who looked like she was close to crying.

"What are you so sad about Svetlana? I haven't even started yet."

Kitty sat down her glass, starting to pace again. "So there I was… at school I got bullied, at home I got hit… I had no friends to go home too… what was a first grader supposed to do?"

Kitty shook her head in reminiscence.

"There was one small light at the end of the tunnel. I had one friend… a girl in my class who stood up for me. Let's for argument sake just call her Jackie. Jackie was tough… she had a habit of punching people no matter how much older they were if they tried to harm me."

"She wasn't the best role model, she always gave me reasons to skip classes with her when thing were too much to deal with. And on a school where everyone, no matter if they were younger, older or the same age as me bullied me, she was the one always there for me. At least until one day… right before summer started in fourth grade."

Everyone looked at each other, seeing that Kitty were struggling about something, her tone breaking down as if she was close to crying.

"Jackie came up to me… and said that her parents were transferring her to a new school. I asked her why, devastated that my friend would leave me alone. And she… she showed… 'sniff' and she told 'sniff'."

Kitty couldn't take it anymore, her eyes letting her tears roll free, just as she finished explaining.

"Because she had been my friend… she had been mocked. But where I had someone to protect me… where I had her she had no one. And Jackie… sweet brave cool Jackie, and been crushed so hard 'sniff' that she had gone home… into the kitchen and found a knife… and had started cutting her stomach trying to kill herself."

Kitty didn't get the chance to say more, Yuri, Svetlana and Naomi were already on their feet hugging her, Kitty holding them close until she calmed down.

"I'm good" she said after a while, dragging her sleeve over her eyes.

The girls reluctantly let go, sitting down as Kitty took another sip of water.

"Well… that was the last drop that made everything flood", Kitty said drying her eyes.

"I went home to mom and told her everything… about Jackie, about the bullying, about the teachers not giving a damn… and about my stepfather hitting me. The very next day mom picked me up after school and told me that we had moved out. We lived in a crisis shelter a while after that, and my mom got in contact with the brother of a guy we knew from our old house… he said that his parents owned a small cabin we could move into until we found a better place… so we did."

"After getting everything we owned into the house we went to the man who had fixed everything and stayed the night… the next day the cops knocked on our door and told us that the house had burned to the ground… it had been lit up on purpose… but the only boot prints they found were those of firemen who tried to make sure that the fire didn't spread."

"Wait a minute."

Carmelita spoke up, looking as if she remembered something.

"Didn't you say your old stepfather was an old fireman?"

"Indeed he was" Kitty said with a small chuckle. "Strange how stuff like that happens huh?"

Kitty shrugged. "There was never found any evidence, and with all our stuff burned down, we moved in with… let's call him Thor. He became stepfather number two. I started 5th grade in a new school… a fresh start so to speak… or at least I thought so. It went 2 weeks before a guy in my class asked me if I was the loon who had tried to eat grass… apparently he was friends with one of my old classmates from my old school… and then hell started anew."

"Difference was, this time I had a teacher who actually tried to help me, and helped making the bullying stop… not completely of course, but she tried her best. Problem was that I got scared again… so scared I hid myself away like a turtle retreating into his shell… no offence Bent."

"None taken."

Kitty sighed. "It took 6 months of therapy for me to realize the one most important fact I have learned in my life. It's not I who had a problem… it was everyone else who had a problem with me. And if they tried to put me down because I didn't wear makeup or used label mark clothes… it was they who had a problem. By an incredible twist of change I met Jackie again the very next year, her parents had moved to more or less the same place and Jackie started going to my school."

"It was great seeing her again, but we had both changed. She tried to help me I know that but… she tried the wrong way."

"Wrong how?" Naomi asked curious.

"She didn't want me to be bullied like I had at our last school… so she tried making me wear makeup and different clothes so the others wouldn't bully me… we found out two things after that."

"Point one, I was allergic to perfume. Jackie had decided that we should start by laying on a thick layer of foundation cream… woke up the next day looking like an overcooked lobster, not pretty. And point two, I would not change myself into being what I was not. Jackie respected it of course, but we never became the close friends we had been since our last school."

"I honestly don't remember much from junior high… to traumatic I think. Only things I do remember was a few happy instances… two of our teachers decided they wanted to see how well we paid attention in class, so one tackled the other in class. We totally fell for it and decided to take revenge on the teacher who got tackled by showing teacher two into the school pool after a swimming lesson."

Kitty grinned.

"You should have seen the look on the other's teacher's face when we told him."

Kitty smiled at the memory. "I had decided by then that I wanted to be a cop… I wanted to help stop the bullies out there and help people and children like myself… and I got into the academy. There I met a guy who I told about my childhood, he more or less dragged me by the arm and got me social. In other words, I did not become social until high school. I still am a tad awkward when it comes to being social as you guys should have noticed."

"I have not taken notice cheri" Yuri said polite as ever.

"Really? So, me talking without thinking, me laughing at moments that aren't really funny… pointing out things I probably should not do… you haven't noticed that have you?"

Yuri simply smiled. "Simply a part of your personality cheri… we have all learned to adore it."

Kitty smiled. "Yeah well… I'm glad someone finds a joy out of it. After finishing the academy I got sent here… and for the most part you know what happened since then."

"For the most part?" Sly spoke up, looking at Kitty curiously.

Kitty smiled sad turning to the table, taking up a basic white A4 paper.

"Let me demonstrate. An elementary teacher in America did this in class as she talking about what happens to children who get bullied, to try and prove a point to the children of her class. She told everyone to take a single piece of paper."

Kitty held up her paper.

"She then told her class to crush the paper, do as much damage as they could to it, without ripping it."

Kitty crumpled her paper, hard and mercilessly, even stomping on it a few times just for the heck of it. Lifting up the paper she continued, no longer looking at her friends, but at the paper.

"Then she told her class to try and fix the problem they had created… to say I'm sorry, It won't happen again and the like."

Slowly and carefully Kitty flattened out the crumpled paper, laying it on the table trying to erase as much of the folds she could.

"However as the teacher pointed out, saying sorry and trying to fix things will not always help."

Kitty held up the paper, and while it had been flattened, creases and lines stood out on the white paper.

"The white paper would never be whole again… some scars will never go away."

Kitty turned to Yuri. "Do you remember the first time we met?"

Yuri chuckled. "Oui cheri… quite the meeting, was it not?"

Kitty nodded, looking thoughtful. "How would you say that I acted?"

Yuri thought it over. "Not much different than you usually act, how so?"

Kitty scratched the back of her head. "I was bracing myself for what I thought was coming."

"And what was that?"

Kitty sighed. "A comment I suppose… or a question. The one's I usually always got from the people that frequent places like your store."

Kitty scowled out into nowhere.

"Why don't you play in the mud like the other boys? Nice pants, where did you find them, in the trash? Nice make up job, you can hardly see your face under all those fake bruises… oh wait…"

Kitty took a deep breath, giving Yuri a hard meaningful stare.

"Hey Petro why don't you grow out your hair to hide your stupid face?"

Yuri and Naomi closed their eyes, both feeling pretty terrible right then and there.

"You know how I usually like to come to C'est Sing via the back door… it's not because of the clothes or the pink or the smell of perfume that blows me away… it's the look I get from your customers who look at me wondering what business I have inside a shop like yours."

"Cheri, I am so sorry, if I had known."

"It's not your fault Yuri… when you went too far I was sure to let you know, right?"

Yuri nodded her head, looking back to when Kitty lost her cool and told Yuri to drop it or she would walk out the door.

Kitty turned to her other friends. "While I never told Carmelita of this… my first meeting with Sly was also pretty special, right pal?"

Sly looked ashamed into the table.

Carmelita looked over at him. "What did you do?"

Kitty spoke up when Sly didn't answer. "You probably remember our first mission together… Sly had been spotted near an empty storage room. We split up… and the moment I was alone Sly struck, dragging me around a box, halfway lifting me off the ground. It did not hurt, but we were both clear on the fact that the minute I tried calling for help or try to struggle, things would worsen for me."

"So there we stood, and Sly looked at me, straight into the eyes and told me that if I ever hurt Carmelita… if anything happened to her because of me, he would follow me to the gates of hell to make sure that I would regret it. Take it from someone who knows… those eyes did not lie. I gave him my word that I would not try and harm Carmelita and with that Sly released me and told me he'd keep me to that promise before he disappeared. As soon as he had turned a corner Carmelita called out for me."

Kitty looked at Sly. "I don't blame you by the way; Neyla was a nasty piece of work. And you were surprisingly gentle with me while showing me into the wall, don't worry, I have had worse."

Kitty turned to Carmelita.

As Carmelita was about to open her mouth Kitty stopped her.

"I am sorry for what you had to go through."

Carmelita looked shocked at Kitty.

"I am sorry the secretary bimbo's spread rumors about you, I am sorry that all the men made you feel a little dead inside every time they threw out a comment on either your failures or your body… I am sorry that your chief ignored your troubles… and I am sorry that someone who should have been a friend turned out to be the biggest bully of them all… I am sorry."

Carmelita shook her head and rose from her chair, hugging Kitty.

"You do not need to say sorry" she grumbled.

"Not you, not ever again."

Kitty sniffed once in Carmelita's embrace, before she let go.

"I could go on all night" Kitty said.

"Thing is, I'd like to get this over with."

Carmelita frowned. "Still not done?"

"No… sit down please."

Carmelita did and Kitty started pacing again.

"I love you all… I see all of you as my friends, and I refuse to believe that anyone of you would hurt me… which has been hard for me to believe of anyone before I came here, with the notable exception of my mom. So when I got kidnapped I did not lose hope… I firmly believed that you would come for me… at least I did until Neyla chopped off my hand."

"But even then I did not fall into despair so quickly. Because I realized something. Neyla was the bully… but I was not the intended victim… Carmelita was. Of course I knew that from before but… ok I am going to say this as simple as I can without trying to sound corny."

"Carmelita was who I was… Neyla was the bully… and suddenly I had turned into Jackie. And just as Jackie had been hurt protecting me I got hurt by protecting Carmelita…but it did not matter as long as Carmelita was safe. But after a while… I did fall into despair. One morning I woke up and did not recognize the girl staring back at me in the mirror. And I simply wanted the hell I was in to stop. And for the first time in my life… I think I understood why Jackie had tried to end it."

"Then you came… and I tried to push you away… tried to make it so you would not have to land in the position I felt myself being in… because I had fallen so low that I truly did not believe that you could win… that all of us had fallen so far that nobody could help us… that I had changed so much that you would not take me back. Stupid of me of course but after two years…"

Kitty shrugged. "All right" Carmen said understanding that Kitty was reaching her conclusion.

"Neyla hurt you bad… but we can help you right? We have done so before, we can…" Carmen stopped as Kitty held up the crumpled paper.

Without a single word spoken Kitty took one of her sharp fingernails and started slicing bits and pieces of the paper. As she finished she looked at Carmen and huffed.

"Think you can fix this Carmen?"

Nobody spoke up, Kitty knowing that she had proved her point.

"What I went through were hell… and it's nothing I would like to put upon you. A happy face does not necessary mean a happy mind. Knowing all that I have told you, I'd like to point out a few things. There are a few times I feel truly safe and happy… when I sing, when I draw, and when I am surrounded by you I have the pleasure of calling my friends. With you I feel safe. But when I get nervous, when I get scared, I joke around… because it's an old habit of mine that by instinct, when someone laughs things don't seem so real or dangerous."

"So if… by some chance we are out on a mission and I try to make fun of you or try to lighten the mood when we are in serious deep dodo… please try to not take offence it's merely a failsafe function in my head."

Kitty dragged a hand through her hair. "Any questions?"

The guru was the one who spoke up. "Your heart is heavy child, and rightfully so… but I feel that there is yet something you have not told us… what are you hiding?"

"I am scared … scared of what I learned from Neyla… and I am scared of what I can do."

The guru sat up from where he had been sitting, in a meditating position on the floor. He walked up to Kitty who sat down on the ground herself.

"There is good in you, child… but you try too hard to shield your friends from your sorrows… your companions are here to help you carry your burdens, if you would let us."

Kitty looked thoughtful, but nodded. She rose from the ground, taking in the faces of all her friends.

"It has been a long day and a long flight… if nobody wants to ask anything else I'd like to go to sleep."

"I got one more question."

Svetlana was the one who spoke up, her voice betraying what tears everyone knew was going to roll any minute.

"You say you are afraid of what Neyla taught you… she excelled in weapons yes? What kind of training did you get, next to knowing how to handle them?"

Kitty had a feeling that the former mobster knew the answer, just wanting to confirm her suspicions.

Kitty walked over to her, taking her arm. Gently she dragged a finger lazily over Svetlana's arm.

"Small cut here takes out an artery, your heart will kill you for me unless tended to immediately."

Another finger, tracing the side of her neck.

"Major artery, you are dead before hitting the ground. I could also stab your windpipe, filling your lungs with your blood, but its more efficient and less messy to not do so. Bullet here… here… and here."

Kitty knew Svetlana enough to know that Svetlana knew the chances of getting up again after getting shot between the eyes, in the heart or through the stomach. Then Kitty started with what she hated knowing the most. She took up Svetlana's hand.

"A person's hand has 27 bones: the carpus or wrist account for 8; the metacarpus or palm contains 5; the remaining 14 are digital bones, meaning your fingers and thumb. The palm has 5 bones, one to each of the 5 digits. Breaking them one by one will usually end up in getting whatever information you want to get. If not there are whips… acupuncture, hypnotics and the like that will give you the answer you are looking for."

Svetlana made Kitty stop, holding onto her hands, softly crying. Kitty hugged the girl tightly for a while, ignoring the others. When Svetlana had calmed down Kitty let go.

She walked past everyone, not looking anyone in the eye, calling out a small good night before heading upstairs. Quickly she looked into the rooms of her children, smiling as she saw them at peace.

She then stretched and walked inside her room, collapsing on the bed, a few tears falling down her cheeks before sleep finally found her.


	17. An RC master

Chapter 17

An RC master

Kitty woke up early the next day walking down to Yuri's living room without a single sound.

Once there she stopped, as she saw Bentley glaring towards a whiteboard with a very advanced formula written on it. Kitty's eyes went ballistic, Kitty soon getting the info that Bentley were trying to find a way to use remote control helicopters to take out some of the obstacles at the vault… however Bentley's level was not enough to take them down.

Kitty walked over, taking a pen, scaring Bentley as he suddenly noticed her. Kitty erased a few numbers, replaced them with some new ones and then wrote the answer to the equation with two lines under it.

"You're welcome Bent" she said, smiling to Bentley who looked at Kitty's changes.

"Seems like we need a new member on our team… thank you Kitty this would have taken me ages to find out of myself."

"No problem" Kitty said stretching. "Now I am going to make some breakfast, want me to make you something?"

"No… I need to start chatting up people on the thiefnet… maybe we're lucky and we'll find a true expert."

"All right Bent, have fun."

"Hey Kitty… about yesterday… if there is anything you need just let us know."

Kitty smiled. "Thank you Bentley… but this is something that only time can heal I'm afraid."

Kitty walked into the kitchen and started making a sandwich, looking up as she saw a new person entering the kitchen.

"Morning Naomi" Kitty said with a smile. "Shall I make you something?"

Naomi shook her head. "No Kitty, I'm fine."

Kitty looked at her and huffed. "Your bloodshot eyes tell a different story. I assure you if it's me you are crying for you can stop now. I don't need tears to know that I have friends that care for me."

Kitty grabbed her sandwich and took a large bite as Naomi sniffed once again, rubbing her eyes.

Kitty walked over to her and gave her a hug. "Hey Naomi… do you know of the old African tale of how the cheetah got it's marks?"

"No" Naomi said, still sounding somber. Kitty smiled and finished another bite of her sandwich, sitting down.

"A very long time ago, when the earth was first created, all the animals came down onto the savanna. The animals, birds, insects were all different shapes and different colors. When the cheetah first came to the earth, just like all other animals, it shook its body and stretched its legs, and took a deep breath of the new clean air. The cheetah thought if felt very good to be alive. Each animal had to get used to its own body, so the cheetah started running and found out it could run very very fast."

"The cheetah ran and ran across the vast plains of the world. After a time of wandering the plains alone, the cheetah became lonely, and decided to look for friends of its own kind. One day, the cheetah, with its great eyesight, spotted some large cats off in the distance and eagerly went running as fast as she could toward these cats. As she was running toward them, one of the cats, which was much larger than the others, stood up and roared. The loud noise frightened the cheetah and she dug her claws into the dirt and came to abrupt halt. The cat was a big male lion, and he roared out to the cheetah in a very low booming voice, Who are you and what do you want?"

"The cheetah, which is much smaller in size than a lion and who by nature is a very shy and timid animal, said I am lonely and have been searching the savanna trying to find friends of my own kind."

"The lion roared, Well, you are not a lion! Look at your legs and body, you are much thinner than we are. And look at your feet, you have claws like a dogs. Your claws do not retract all the way back into your feet like ours do. You are not a cat, you are a dog. So, you better run away fast and try to find someone in your own family."

"The cheetah lowered her head and put her tail down, and crept away feeling a bit discouraged. She thought big cats were very unfriendly. The cheetah continued her search looking for a friend of her own kind. The days went by. Then one day, the cheetah saw a pack of wild dogs playing in the sun. The cheetah went racing up to the pack. The whole pack was yelping and barking furiously. The cheetah stopped immediately, and the pack leader yelped at her, Who are you and what do you want?"

"The cheetah began to tell the wild dogs her story about trying to find a family of her own. During her search, she was scared by a lion and saddened when he told her that the cheetah was not a cat, but a dog. The whole pack of wild dogs howled in laughter, and barked at her, "You are not a dog at all. Look at your round head and ears, and your rough tongue. They are like a cat's. Your tail is long just like the other cats. You are not a dog at all!" The pack chased the cheetah off, biting at her heels."

"This time the cheetah raced away very fast because she was scared. After running a safe distance from the dogs, the cheetah laid down to rest under a big camel thorn tree. She felt sad. She thought about how the lion roared and did not want her, and how the wild dogs yelped and bit at her feet, and she felt sadder and sadder. The cheetah felt so sad that started to cry. She was very lonely."

"The cheetah did not realize that any other animals were near her. A giraffe had walked up quietly while the cheetah was crying. The giraffe, looking down at the cheetah with its big brown eyes, asked, "Why are you crying?" The cheetah was very surprised when the giraffe spoke. The cheetah looked up tearfully at the giraffe and proceeded to tell her sad story about the lions roaring and telling her she was not a cat, and the wild dogs chasing her and saying she was not a dog."

"Sniffling, the cheetah said, I have been sitting here crying, and I have cried so long and so hard-look at my beautiful face, the tears have burnt marks in my face."

"A bird that was flying by the camel thorn tree saw the beautiful cheetah and chirped, I have traveled throughout this land and you, cheetah, are the most splendid and unique of all the cats I have seen."

Kitty smiled and turned to Naomi who looked a little better.

"The cheetah has had spots ever since that lonely day. And it chirps like a bird to show how proud it is of being the most unique of all cats."

Kitty smiled and ruffled Naomi's hair. "You cheetah's have already cried enough… I'd rather see you smile."

Naomi sniffed but nodded. "Yeah… I'll try to smile."

"Atta girl" Kitty said, making Naomi laugh.

"How can you be so happy Kitty? Given everything that has happened?"

"Because the alternative isn't an option. Now excuse me I need to have almost the same discussion with Svetlana."

Naomi smiled as Kitty left, the vixen finishing up her breakfast as most of the rest of the house started to wake up from their late night. Kitty walked out on the basket ball court to do her tai chi movements. It was good morning exercise and also calmed her body.

About halfway in Carmelita, Sly and Yuri came out, asking if she could teach them some of the moves, something Kitty was happy to do, going through the first 40 stances before stopping up.

"That's enough for now I guess" Kitty said with a smile. "Now why don't we get inside and get some breakfast."

Yuri smiled. "Sounds like a splendid plan cheri."

Kitty led the way, her smile faltering as she entered the living room, seeing Svetlana. "Now, now, enough tears" she said in a mock admonishing tone, taking Svetlana's face in her hands.

"You are too beautiful to ruin your face like that."

"But 'sniff' tovarich, your story…"

"was not worse than your past were, was it? Now please Svetlana, stop doing this to yourself."

Svetlana sniffed again and Kitty sighed. "All right, extreme measures needs to be taken here I see."

She released Svetlana and walked over to Bentley. "Hey Bent, can I borrow your laptop for a little while?"

Bentley frowned curiously. "Sure Kitty."

Kitty took the laptop and clicked herself onto youtube and quickly found the music video she looked for.

"Hey Sean, I am going to borrow your girl for a few minutes, hope you don't mind."

"Not at all" Sean said, knowing that Kitty would never intentionally harm Svetlana in any way, shape or form.

Kitty smiled and pressed play, handing the computer back to Bentley and walked over to Svetlana, taking the girl's hands into her own and made her dance as Kitty sang in tune with the song.

You're insecure

Don't know what for

You're turning heads when you walk through the door

Don't need make up

To cover up

Being the way that you are is enough

Svetlana looked up into Kitty's eyes, the vixen smiling and twirling her tigress friend around, making sure Svetlana noticed that all their friends were present

Everyone else in the room can see it

Everyone else but you

Baby you light up my world like nobody else

The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed

But when you smile at the ground it aint hard to tell

You don't know

Oh Oh

You don't know you're beautiful

Kitty smiled wider and twirled her friend around again, hugging the soviet from behind in an almost overly friendly hug as she continued singing.

If only you saw what I can see

You'll understand why I want you so desperately

Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe

You don't know

Oh oh

You don't know you're beautiful

Oh oh

That what makes you beautiful

Kitty smiled and let Svetlana go, dancing solo for everyone to see, but mostly for Svetlana's benefit.

So c-come on

You got it wrong

To prove I'm right I put it in a song

I don't know why

You're being shy

And turn away when I look into your eyes

Everyone else in the room can see it

Everyone else but you

Svetlana blushed as Kitty lay a hand around her shoulders, pointing out all her friends who smiled and applauded in agreement as the chorus started up again.

Baby you light up my world like nobody else

The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed

But when you smile at the ground it aint hard to tell

You don't know

Oh oh

You don't know you're beautiful

Kitty quickly and deftly pulled in Sean from the audience, making sure that he and Svetlana where holding each other's gaze as the song continued on.

If only you saw what I can see

You'll understand why I want you so desperately

Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe

You don't know

Oh oh

You don't know you're beautiful

Oh oh

That's what makes you beautiful

Nana Nana Nana Nana

Nana Nana Nana Nana

Nana Nana Nana Nana

Sean smiled and on pure impulse started dancing with Svetlana in the middle of the living room as Kitty softly sang with the lyrics.

Baby you light up my world like nobody else

The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed

But when you smile at the ground it aint hard to tell

You don't know

Oh Oh

You don't know you're beautiful

Baby you light up my world like nobody else

The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed

But when you smile at the ground it aint hard to tell

You don't know

Oh oh

You don't know you're beautiful

If only you saw what I can see

You'll understand why I want you so desperately

Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe

You don't know

Oh Oh

You don't know you're beautiful

Oh oh

You don't know you're beautiful

Oh oh

That's what makes you beautiful

Everyone smiled and laughed as Sean kissed Svetlana fully on the lips and the song came to a close. As the two let go from the passionate kiss Kitty spoke up.

"Now that's the face I'd like to see from you Svetlana. No more crying or pouts, and that's an order."

Svetlana turned to Kitty, her smile demising slightly. "But tovarich, your tale yesterday."

"Told you about my past… the past is the past Svetlana; you don't see me crying my eyes out every day I see you because I know what hell you went through." Svetlana nodded. She got the point.

"All right then" Kitty said with a smile. "Breakfast time, you need any help in there Yuri?"

SLYCOOPERSLYCOOPER

About half an hour later everyone sat round the breakfast table eating away and talking among each other.

"So Bent, did you find anyone on the thiefnet?"

Kitty asked around a slice of toast. "I thought I did" Bentley said with a sigh. "A woman named Penelope, living in Holland. She turned me down, said she only worked for the best, which in her opinion is her boss, a dog fighting bulldog named the Black Baron. So I'll try to figure out something else, but for now I got nothing."

"Don't feel too bad Bentley, we got time to spare" Kitty said smiling.

Bentley sighed and was about to say something as there came a small bing from his computer. "Excuse me" he said rising and walked out. Kitty shrugged and took a deep sip from her glass of milk before Bentley's voice was heard. "YES!"

Bentley came rushing in. "Penelope contacted me" he said with a smile. "She is willing to give us a chance."

"We're listening" Kitty said. "Penelope's boss the Black Baron is hosting his annual ACES competition in 2 months time… the cooper gang is invited to compete. If we win, she'll join our gang."

Kitty's eyes flared up. "All right let's see" she said, getting all the information over her iris. "Yeah ok if it's all right with you guys I'll leave the sneakyness and stuff to you guys this time. You know about me and my issues with heights."

Everyone nodded. Over the years everyone had learned that there were only two things Kitty feared more than anything else on the world. Thunder and heights.

Every time the sky had flared up Kitty would zing around the room she was in with greater speed than Naomi, turn off any lights and unplug any electrical devices and scurry under the first table she found, shaking and sobbing until either Ling would come and hold her in his arms or the thunder would stop.

As for the heights, Carmelita had learned quickly to let Kitty follow their suspects from the ground while she herself took the rooftops, because the minute Kitty did the mistake of looking down her feet turned to jelly and she collapsed backwards in a fit of cries.

Kitty smiled, getting even more info over her eyes. "However I think I might be able to help anyways. Now then you need more pilots I'm guessing? Or are you going to let Sly fly alone up in the sky?"

"Hell no" Carmelita said with a huff. "I'll be joining him."

"Commendable" Kitty said. "So two against thirty… yeah those are some great odds."

"You got any better ideas?"

"Yes" Kitty said with a smile. "I think it's time I called some friends." Kitty didn't say much more, but helped the others take off the food from the table.

As she finished she walked out to the living room and picked up the phone, dialing a number she had memorized. The phone buzzed twice and then a voice was heard that made a small tear roll down her cheek.

"Hai?"

"Hi Olivia, it's Kitty. The Cooper gang needs help."


End file.
